WiseTech to axe 2000 staff as AI transition boots up
Adrian Black |
Australia’s largest locally listed tech company will slash about 2000 jobs as it leans into artificial intelligence, in the second major workforce shake-up announced in as many days.
The cuts, which amount to more than a quarter of WiseTech Global’s 7000 headcount across 40 countries, would start with product and development coders and customer service representatives, chief executive Zubin Appoo said.
“I am prepared to say this clearly, the era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over,” Mr Appoo told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.
“Continuing into FY27 we expect to reduce teams, initially, product and development and customer service across the company, including E2open by up to 50 per cent in terms of headcount for our product and development teams.”
The reductions would focus on roles where WiseTech had witnessed AI dramatically improve efficiency.
The announcement came as WiseTech grew its first-half revenue by 76 per cent to $US672 million ($A951 million).
It posted a bottom-line net profit of $US68.1 million ($A95.8 million), down 36 per cent on the equivalent half’s $US106.4 million, which was impacted by the acquisition of supply chain software e2Open.
Operating cash flow in the six months to December grew 31 per cent to $US192.3 million ($A272.4 million), and underlying net profit grew two per cent to $US112.1 million ($A158.8 million).
“We executed with discipline and delivered results in line with our expectations, and we are confident in our outlook,” Mr Appoo said.
The ongoing AI transformation came after WiseTech last year built AI agents into its Cargowise platform, which is used by more than 17,000 freight forwarders and logistics providers to manage shipments around the world.
“This decision was not taken lightly, but it is necessary to ensure we remain disciplined, nimble, competitive and future ready,” Mr Appoo said.
The announcement came one day after Commonwealth Bank flagged it would axe 300 jobs as it reshaped its workforce through AI.
The changes didn’t represent a cyclical job cut, but a structure reset of the workforce, according to AI transformation consultant TP Australia.
Organisations were racing to embed AI into customer operations while redefining human roles, TP’s customer experience strategy vice president Richard Valente said.
“While AI will handle routine interactions at scale, it raises the bar for the people who remain,” he said.
“The future frontline … won’t just process requests, they’ll be problem solvers, relationship managers and trust builders.”
Investors welcomed WiseTech’s results and the update, with its shares rebounding more than 11 per cent to $47.91 by mid-afternoon, after tumbling by more than 60 per cent since July 2025.
WiseTech had made headlines for all the wrong reasons in the second half, including a corporate regulator and federal police raid of company offices, a shareholder strike on executive pay and a superannuation giant unloading its $580 million stake in the company over ongoing governance concerns.
Co-founder, executive chair and chief innovation officer Richard White, who stepped down as chief executive in October 2024 amid allegations of bullying and undisclosed workplace relationships, which were denied, told Wednesday’s briefing he was in the right position.
“These days, my role and focus as chief innovation officer … allows me to spend the majority of my time on product design, product expansion and the commercial models of our products,” he said.
While an internal review effectively cleared media allegations Mr White had misappropriated company funds, an Australian Securities and Investments Commission probe into allegations of potential improper trading by Mr White and three employees is ongoing.
AAP