Cloudflare cuts 1,100 jobs in agentic AI pivot despite beating Q1 2026 earnings as stock falls 24%

This article was published on May 8, 2026 Matthew Prince , CO-founde and CEO Cloudflare TL;DRCloudflare beat Q1 earnings estimates, cut 1,100 employees because AI agents now do their work, and saw its stock fall 24 per cent. It is the most explicit case of a company attributing layoffs directly to AI replacing human roles. Cloudflare beat Q1 earnings estimates, cut 1,100 employees because AI agents now do their work, and saw its stock fall 24 per cent. It is the most explicit case of a company attributing layoffs directly to AI replacing human roles. Cloudflare beat Wall Street’s revenue and earnings estimates on Wednesday, announced it would cut 1,100 employees because artificial intelligence agents now do their work, and watched its stock fall 24 per cent on Thursday. The sequence is becoming the template for the technology industry in 2026: record revenue, record layoffs, record doubt about what comes next. First-quarter revenue was 639.8 million dollars, up 34 per cent year over year, beating the consensus estimate of 622 million. Adjusted earnings per share were 25 cents against expectations of 23 cents. Free cash flow was 84.1 million dollars. The company added a record numbe