An image accidentally sent to laid-off Stripe staffers shows their communications team might have just been winging it.
The payment processing platform accidentally sent an image of a cartoon duck in emails to employees notifying them of their termination, The Post has learned.
On Monday, Stripe – whose customers include Amazon, Alaska Airlines, Blockchain.com and Slack – announced it was laying off 300 employees, or approximately 3.5% of its workforce.
The impacted staffers are mostly in product, engineering and operations roles, according to a leaked memo.
These workers received emails with an attached image labeled “US-Non-California Duck” showing a fluffy yellow cartoon bird.
Employees took to Blind, an anonymous site where corporate employees can share grievances, to make light of the duck-up.
“Never liked it when someone put a duck on my Jeep…this would have sent me over the edge,” one Blind user registered as a Stripe employee wrote.
A Stripe spokesperson confirmed that the duck images were accidentally sent to laid-off staffers, and that impacted employees received notices with the incorrect termination dates, as well.
Business Insider earlier reported news of the leaked emails.
“I apologize for the error and any confusion it caused,” Rob McIntosh, Stripe’s chief people officer, said in an email to employees. “Corrected and full notifications have since been sent to all impacted Stripes.”
In a separate email, McIntosh told Stripe staffers that the company is still hoping to grow its workforce by 17% to about 10,000 employees by the end of the year.
The tech startup, which launched in 2011, has suffered layoffs in the past.
Stripe is a privately-held company, so most of its financials are not disclosed, but it was likely hit hard in 2022, when it laid off more than 1,000 staffers.
At the time, CEO Patrick Collison blamed the economy and fears of a recession in a public letter – an explanation that won praise for its frankness.
Stripe also cut its valuation multiple times over the years, though it recently jumped back up to around $70 billion in November, according to Bloomberg.
The valuation puts Stripe in the same ranks as wealthy startups like SpaceX and OpenAI, though it’s still below its 2021 peak of $95 billion.
Stripe is the second-largest startup in the Bay Area, behind only OpenAI, according to SFGate.
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