When layoffs become a season rather than an event, a company experiences a certain kind of weariness. You can find OpenText employees discussing just that by scrolling through the threads on TheLayoff.com or reading through the discussions on Reddit’s r/waterloo. Some refer to it as “yearly spring cleaning.” Another longtime engineer claimed he was fired in eight minutes after working on the same product for seventeen years. For seventeen years, eight minutes. It’s difficult not to pause and read that.
Based on OpenText’s own headcount data, BetaKit calculated that the most recent layoffs, which were confirmed in late March 2026, affected approximately 880 employees, or four percent of the company’s worldwide workforce. The layoffs affected engineers, community managers, senior analysts, and team leads in the US, Canada, and India. One impacted employee claimed that some teams lost every support engineer for a particular product. It seems that managers were notified only after the fact. No spokesperson statement can adequately smooth over the rawness of those details.
| Company Profile | Details |
|---|---|
| Company Name | OpenText Corporation |
| Headquarters | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Industry | Enterprise Information Management Software |
| Stock Ticker | OTEX (NASDAQ & TSX) |
| Current CEO | Ayman Antoun (took over April 20, 2026) |
| Former CEO | Mark Barrenechea (departed August 2025) |
| Global Workforce (pre-cuts) | Approximately 22,000 |
| March 2026 Layoffs | ~4% of the workforce, roughly 880 jobs |
| May 2025 Layoffs | 1,600 positions |
| 2024 Layoffs | 1,200 positions |
| Annual Recurring Revenue | Over $1 billion USD |
| Key Competitors | IBM, Microsoft, Abbyy, Hyland |
| Stock Performance (YTD 2026) | Down roughly 33% on the Toronto Stock Exchange |
| Strategic Direction | “OpenText 3.0” — Cloud, Security, AI focus |
For its part, OpenText provided the kind of language that businesses always provide in situations like this: measured, cautious, and not cruel. According to the company, decisions that have an impact on employees are never made lightly, and it regularly assesses its organization to ensure that it is in line with strategic priorities. That might be the case. In most cases, it is, to some extent. However, it stands in stark contrast to the larger trend that this is the third major round of cuts in about 20 months. In 2024, twelve hundred jobs. In May 2025, there will be sixteen hundred more. Another 880 now. At some point, “regular evaluation” begins to feel more like a permanent state and less like caution.
Additionally, the timing is odd, or at least noteworthy. Less than a month before Ayman Antoun, the former president of IBM Americas, was scheduled to become CEO on April 20, the March layoffs were announced. James McGourlay, the interim chief who had been keeping things together since longtime CEO Mark Barrenechea abruptly left last August, is replaced by Antoun. Whether it’s fair or not, there’s a feeling that the business wanted to tidy up before the new leader took over.
A lengthy chapter came to an end with Barrenechea’s departure. In 2023, he oversaw the $5.8 billion acquisition of Micro Focus, which in turn led to an 8% reduction in staff. He introduced the “OpenText 3.0” approach. In May 2025, he informed staff that adopting AI was the “number one priority and baseline expectation.” In certain areas of the organization, that statement was met with a thud. a starting point. Employees realized that anyone whose work could be automated would likely leave the company sooner rather than later.
Furthermore, it appears from the forum chatter that fear has persisted. According to posts, there is still $150 million in “open reduction” for the year and an additional $1 billion in optimization that is “to be achieved with AI agents.” The tone is clear, regardless of whether those figures are factual or merely conjecture. People are preparing.
The financial picture adds to the complexity. Even after a respectable Q2 earnings report, OpenText shares are down about a third of the year so far in 2026, reaching a 52-week low of roughly $30 in late March. With the proceeds designated for debt, the company has been discreetly selling off non-core assets, such as the eDOCS business for $163 million USD and Vertica for $150 million USD. That’s not just fine-tuning; it’s the playbook of a business operating under actual pressure.
It’s tempting to draw a neat lesson as you watch all of this happen. However, there isn’t one yet. OpenText may become more focused, leaner, and truly repositioned for an information management market that prioritizes AI. Alternatively, it may continue to trim until the muscle follows the fat. Investors appear to be cautiously receptive to the first account. It makes sense that workers are experiencing the second one. The company is actually somewhere in the middle of those two readings, and it appears likely to remain there for the time being.
