Dropbox is cutting around 200 jobs globally as the cloud storage company reshapes its business. The change follows co-founder Andrew Houston stepping into an executive chairman role after 19 years as CEO.

The workforce reduction will affect approximately 9% of Dropbox’s global employees as the company seeks to concentrate resources on its highest-priority products and growth opportunities.

Houston, who co-founded Dropbox and led the business for almost two decades, stepped down as CEO in May and became executive chairman. Ashraf Alkarmi, previously general manager of Dropbox’s core business, took over as CEO as the company entered its next phase of development.

The leadership transition comes as Dropbox looks to streamline operations, strengthen its enterprise offering and direct investment towards products and services with the greatest potential for growth.

In an employee memo, Alkarmi said the company needed to make difficult decisions about where it invests and which activities should be simplified, reduced or discontinued.

“Delivering on that strategy requires concentrating our resources on the priorities that will have the greatest potential for customer impact and growth,” Alkarmi said.

The redundancies will span engineering, product, design and general and administrative teams, according to the company’s disclosures.

Drew Houston, Dropbox co-founder, former CEO, and now executive chairman.

Dropbox expects the restructuring to cost between US$27 million and US$33 million, primarily through employee severance, benefits and related expenses. Most of the costs are expected to be recognised in the December quarter, with the remainder flowing into 2027.

The company has not indicated that the cuts are the result of a specific financial downturn, instead presenting the move as part of a broader effort to align its workforce and spending with its long-term strategy.

Dropbox also faces a further leadership change, with chief technology officer Ali Dasdan scheduled to leave on 18 November.

A regulatory filing disclosed that Dasdan’s departure package includes a US$515,000 pro-rata bonus, an approximately US$1.3 million lump-sum payment and additional benefits.

The company has not publicly established a direct link between Dasdan’s departure and the workforce reduction.

Despite the restructuring, Dropbox expects its third-quarter 2026 financial results to meet or exceed previous guidance. The company forecast quarterly revenue of US$627 million to US$630 million, with full-year revenue previously projected at US $2.51 billion to US$2.52 billion.

For business customers, Dropbox’s stated priorities remain its core file-storage and collaboration services, as well as efforts to expand into more critical business workflows and larger enterprise accounts.

Dropbox has not announced any changes to its customer-facing services as part of the workforce reduction.