Stone carried out a round of layoffs that mainly affected the technology sector of the machinery company, the report found. BroadcastGrupo Estado’s real-time news system. According to people familiar with the matter, the layoffs affected around 3% of the fintech workforce, which has approximately 14,000 employees. Estimates indicate that between 300 and 400 people were dismissed.
The group’s CEO, Mateus Scherer, who took office at the beginning of this month, communicated the cuts in a message sent internally.
According to reports from professionals, the reduction in the workforce was presented as a restructuring in search of greater efficiency.
The company would have indicated that advances in artificial intelligence initiatives would also have contributed to the decision, according to a person with knowledge of the process, who requested anonymity.
In a statement, Stone claims to have made a “specific adjustment” to the structure as part of a continuous process of simplification and efficiency gains.
Operations continue normally, with no impact on customers or partners, according to the statement.
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Also in a statement, the Information Technology Workers Union of the State of São Paulo (SINDPD-SP) repudiated the mass layoffs promoted by Stone.
The entity cites the understanding of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that dismissals of this type must be preceded by negotiations with the union representing the category. “By ignoring this principle and carrying out massive cuts during the period of negotiation of the collective agreement, Stone is affronting not only the workers affected, but also the system of labor relations provided for in the Constitution”, he criticizes.
The union added that it will sue the Labor Court and ask for the reinstatement of the dismissed workers, given what it calls “an obvious anti-union practice”.
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Under pressure
On Tuesday last week, Stone’s shares plummeted almost 20% at the lows of the trading session, the day after the release of the fourth quarter balance sheet.
The company faced a slowdown in the transacted value (TPV) in acquiring, which grew 5.3% year-on-year, to R$151 billion, after having advanced almost 9% in the previous three months. The movement was attributed to the “challenging” macroeconomic scenario and internal difficulties, such as problems in the process of integrating new customers.
Investors also expected more clarity regarding the distribution to shareholders of the proceeds from the sale of Linx to Totvs, concluded at the end of February.
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Stone obtained R$3.08 billion from the operation, but said it will only define in April whether it will distribute the resources via dividend or share buyback.
