Dropbox to layoff 11per cent of workforce, COO to step down

REUTERS: Dropbox Inc on Wednesday announced the exit of operations chief and said it will cut 11per cent of its global workforce, or 315 people, as the file hosting service provider shifts business resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shares fell nearly 6per cent to US$22.26 after Dropbox said Chief Operating Officer Olivia Nottebohm, who joined last year from Alphabet Inc's Google, will step down on Feb. 5. (https://bit.ly/38CVySi)

Dropbox did not provide details of a replacement for the COO.

"Our Virtual First policy means we require fewer resources to support our in-office environment, so we're scaling back that investment and redeploying those resources to drive our ambitious product roadmap," Chief Executive Officer Drew Houston said in a letter to employees on Wednesday.

The San Francisco-based company had said in October that remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be a primary experience for its employees and its physical spaces will no longer be for daily individual work. (https://bit.ly/3qkrWz0)

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)