CrowdStrike CEO Drops Hammer On 500 Employees With AI Replacements—We Are Cooked…

We are so cooked…

CrowdStrike just did what every other CEO’s been quietly fantasizing about while pretending to “empower teams” on LinkedIn: they took the AI baton and sprinted straight into a layoff memo. 500 employees… gone… courteously of the efficient nod to “advances in AI”. And while most CEOs beat around the bush with this stuff (think: reskilling or digital transformation), CrowdStrike CEO, George Flinch went straight for the throat. In fact, he practically bragged about it.

(Source: Giphy) 

“We’re reshaping the org with discipline and focus,” he said, which is the exact thing you say when you just fired people to make room for software that doesn’t sleep, complain, or collect stock options. AI is the new headcount, and CrowdStrike is just the latest to admit it out loud. We’ve entered the we’re screwed phase of AI. Translation: No more pretending this is about “augmenting” workers. It’s about replacing them. 

But what’s interesting here is that CrowdStrike, for the most part, is fine (other than single-handedly giving the world “Leave the world behind” vibes). But that’s old news, and now they’re sitting on a 25% year-over-year revenue bump, and they’re pushing toward $10 billion in ARR like it’s easy money. So really, no one is losing here, especially considering shares are up 24% YTD. So then why the replacing of jobs? Well, I’m not saying they’re killing jobs to look hotter for the Q3 earnings call, but I’m definitely not saying they aren’t either. 

(Source: CNBC) 

On the other hand, the stock did take a 5% hit after the announcement, presumably for being too honest with their actions. But as for the rest of the tech world? They’re clapping like trained seals. Box, Duolingo, Shopify—they’re all doing the same thing. At this point, some may even say AI isn’t augmenting workforces anymore, it’s full-send carpet bombing them. And naturally, the people writing the checks are loving every second of it. 

Now from an overhead stance, this move isn’t shocking. It’s just the first domino to fall with the cameras rolling. And while every C-Suite out there is morally questioning whether they want to advance on AI like this, Kurtz did the opposite. He ripped the Band-Aid off and said what all the other CEOs are too cowardly to admit: AI is cheaper, faster, and doesn’t throw a fit about Slack messages at 11:47 p.m. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Sure, this could become a great growth strategy for the company. But that’s for the company. For human workers with a heart and a brain, this is just the tipping point before we hit a world where the only ones left are just feeding prompts to a machine. And Wall Street? They’ll cheer for that every time. Of course, only time will tell what the future holds, but for CrowdStrike, I have no doubt that 5% will grow over the long term. Meaning, keep your head on a swivel and place your bets accordingly, friends. Until next time… 

P.S. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you liked getting rekt. Let’s face it, retail investors get the short end of the stick all day everyday. It’s the smart money’s world, and we are just living in it–only useful when it comes to liquidity purposes in the market. Meaning, if you’re as pissed off as I was when I found out Milli Vanilli was lip syncing the whole time, then it’s time to go from investing blind, to investing smart. Luckily for you, the key is right here as a Stocks.News premium member. Click here to see exactly how our premium members are printing while others quake in the face of today’s market chaos. 

Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.