Squarespace restructures and cuts roughly 300 roles
Squarespace reduces global workforce by about 19%
Squarespace is restructuring its organisation and reducing its global workforce by approximately 19%, a move affecting around 300 employees. Jeff Seedman, a public relations specialist representing the website-building and hosting company, confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch after The Verge first reported them.
Seedman said the changes are intended to simplify the way Squarespace operates, sharpen its priorities and enable it to move faster as it positions for its next phase of growth. The company helps customers build and host their own websites, placing the cuts in a market that is being rapidly reshaped by generative AI tools.
Prompt-driven building changes the competitive landscape
Website creation has changed substantially as generative AI has spread through the sector. So-called vibe-coding website builders allow users to enter simple prompts and generate functional front-end designs, reducing the amount of effort needed to create a site. These capabilities have become an increasingly central part of the website-building business.
Competitors and large platforms have been investing in this category. Wix acquired Base44 for $80 million last year. Lovable, another comparable offering, raised a $400 million Series C round in August at a $13.3 billion valuation. Google has also launched Stitch, a feature designed to help users generate user-interface designs quickly.
Forma is Squarespace's planned AI-native offering
Squarespace has not yet launched a similar vibe-coding utility. It has, however, announced Forma, an upcoming AI-native platform that currently has a waitlist. The timing of the restructuring puts added attention on how the company turns that announced product into an available service while managing a smaller workforce.
Founded in 2004, Squarespace went public in 2021 at a $10 billion valuation. After struggling to generate enthusiastic interest in the public markets, it returned to private ownership through a $7 billion private-equity deal in 2024.
What customers should watch
For organisations that rely on website-building platforms, the immediate implication is practical: assess whether a provider's announced AI capabilities are available, determine how product support may evolve during organisational change, and keep plans for critical web properties current as the market shifts toward prompt-driven creation.