Irish Examiner view: Stripe layoffs add a dash of reality about Ireland's digital economy  

Collison brothers' frank email may mean difficulty for staff — but it's also a wake-up call about the prospects of the industry

In their email to Stripe staff, founders Patrick and John Collison admitted they had been over-optimistic about growth potential for 2022 and 2023. File picture

The announcement that global payments company Stripe is set to lay off 14% of its staff was enough to give pause to anyone, and not just because the company is an Irish success story.  

Founded by John and Patrick Collison of Limerick, Stripe plans to cut its numbers because — as evidenced in a frank email from Patrick Collison to employees — they had been too optimistic about the growth in the digital economy in 2022 and 2023, and had hired too many people. 

This is a bracing dash of reality for those who believe in the inevitability of the online economy killing off traditional or real-world businesses, for one thing. 

The arc of history may favour the online economy in the medium term, but the immediate future always asks the harshest questions. 

History is not short of examples of bubbles which were confidently boosted by participants and expected to continue growing far beyond any reasonable expectations.

The communication from the Collisons is honest about their own misjudgements, though at press time it remained short on details on how the cuts would affect Irish staff. 

The news comes at the same time that Elon Musk and his colleagues are puzzling out ways to slash costs at Twitter, where one of the oldest strategies seems top of their list of options as well — sweeping job cuts.

This is not an abstract matter for Ireland, either. The company employs 500 people here who are awaiting word from head office in California about their future — a considerable number of people for whom this is a good deal more important than online banter about a blue check mark.

On top of Stripe’s news, we had Ibec’s declaration yesterday that, while the coming months will not bring a recession, it may feel like a recession to some (a Jesuitical distinction if ever there was one) and Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath was warning that corporate tax receipts may not always be at current levels.

Winter has arrived, and not just on calendars.