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Article · 2026-10-07 · 7 min read · Software · Stocks

HubSpot and FICO file job cuts of 7 and 15 percent of staff

On Tuesday 6 October two software companies reported workforce cuts to the SEC under item 2.05: HubSpot's board authorized a plan on Thursday 1 October touching about 7 percent of its workforce, nearly 660 people, with $65 million to $75 million of charges, and its chief executive wrote that the cut is not driven by AI efficiencies; Fair Isaac, maker of the FICO score, committed the same day to eliminate about 15 percent of positions, naming 'AI-driven product development' among its aims, with about $27.0 million of pre-tax charges.

By the desk. Researched and written by an AI model from the sources listed at the end; nothing here restates another publication's text.

HUBSdirect FICOdirect

What the two companies filed

HubSpot, the Cambridge, Massachusetts maker of marketing, sales and customer service software, told the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday 6 October that its board had authorized a restructuring plan on Thursday 1 October 'that results in the elimination of certain roles, impacting approximately 7% of the Company's workforce.' The filing is a current report on Form 8-K under item 2.05, the item a company uses to report costs of exiting or shrinking an activity. The plan, the company said, 'is designed to create a flatter, faster organization' aligned to a strategy with 'a deeper focus on delivering customer outcomes'. ^[1]

Fair Isaac, the Bozeman, Montana company behind the FICO credit score, filed its own item 2.05 report the same Tuesday. It said management committed on Thursday 1 October to a plan of workforce reduction 'by reducing the number of layers in the organization, simplifying the operating structure, optimizing processes and tools, and integrating AI-driven product development.' The plan 'involves the elimination of approximately 15% of positions across the Company'; affected employees were notified beginning the week of Monday 5 October, and the company said it expects the plan to be substantially completed by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2027. ^[3]

The charges and the timing

HubSpot said it estimates charges of approximately $65 million to $75 million, 'consisting primarily of future cash expenditures related to severance, notice period, employee transition and benefits payments.' It expects to recognize most of them in the fourth quarter of 2026, to have the role eliminations substantially complete by the end of the first quarter of 2027, subject to local law and consultation requirements, and to make substantially all related cash payments by 30 June 2027. The charges go into its GAAP results, the figures under standard accounting rules, and are left out of its non-GAAP measures, the adjusted figures the company also reports. ^[1]

In the same filing HubSpot said it 'reaffirms its revenue, non-GAAP operating income, and non-GAAP net income per common share guidance' for the third quarter that ended on Wednesday 30 September and for the full year 2026, as first given in its results release of Wednesday 5 August, and that it 'remains confident in achieving its longer-term operating margin targets shared at its Analyst Day on September 17, 2026.' Those are the company's words about its own outlook. ^[1]

Fair Isaac said it expects aggregate pre-tax charges of approximately $27.0 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, made up of employee severance and related costs calculated under its existing severance plan or local statutory requirements, substantially all of them to be paid in cash. Its fiscal year ends on 30 September, so that fourth quarter is the three months to Wednesday 30 September, the day before the plan was committed; the filing does not say why the charge falls in that quarter. ^{[3, 6]}

How many people that is

The filing gives a percentage; the letter from chief executive Yamini Rangan attached to it gives a count: 'We have decided to reduce the size of our team by ~7% and will be saying goodbye to nearly 660 HubSpotters.' The company's annual report counted 8,882 full-time employees at 31 December 2025, and its quarterly report 9,016 at 30 June 2026. By the desk's arithmetic, 660 is about 7.3 percent of the June count, while 7 percent of it would be about 630; the filings do not reconcile the two figures. ^{[2, 4, 5]}

Fair Isaac's filing gives no count, and Reuters reported that the company did not specify one; Reuters worked out that its 3,811 employees at the end of September 2025 meant the cuts could affect about 570 workers. That 3,811 is the figure in the company's annual report. Its quarterly report counted 3,876 employees at 30 June 2026, and by the desk's arithmetic 15 percent of that is about 580. ^{[8, 6, 7]}

Spread over those counts, and by the desk's arithmetic only, HubSpot's estimate comes to roughly $98,000 to $114,000 for each of the nearly 660 roles, a figure that includes notice periods, transition and benefits as well as severance, and Fair Isaac's $27.0 million to roughly $47,000 for each of about 570 to 580 positions. HubSpot's letter sets out its terms: 20 weeks of base pay plus one week per year of service, up to 30 weeks, five months of health cover in the United States, and six months of outplacement help. ^{[1, 2, 3, 6, 7]}

Neither company is cutting for the first time. HubSpot's annual report says a plan its board authorized on 25 January 2023 included a reduction of its workforce 'by approximately 7%' along with a consolidation of its leases. Fair Isaac's annual report says that in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 it eliminated 226 positions throughout the company, at a cost of $10.9 million in employee separation costs. ^{[4, 6]}

What each says about AI

The two filings part ways on artificial intelligence. Rangan's letter says HubSpot has shifted its strategy 'from building software that helps customers grow to delivering outcomes for them with AI', and that product teams will be organized around customer outcomes instead of its 'Hubs', with fewer management layers. It then says plainly: 'This is not driven by AI-related efficiencies,' and 'This is not simply a cost-cutting exercise.' Boston.com, a Boston Globe Media site, reported the cut under the line that the company is reorganizing to align with its AI strategy, and quoted the same denial. ^{[2, 9]}

Fair Isaac puts AI among the aims of the plan itself: the filing lists 'integrating AI-driven product development'. In a statement to Reuters the company said 'This simplified structure will allow us to operate and bring innovations to market faster and create more value for our customers.' Reuters also reported the setting: the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September to allow all lenders to use VantageScore, a rival score developed by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and its director said the two would adopt a single pricing grid for both scores. ^{[3, 8]}

Reuters called Fair Isaac 'the latest US company to cut jobs as businesses automate tasks and redirect spending toward the technology.' The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which counts the job cuts US employers announce and the reasons they give, reported on Thursday 1 October that artificial intelligence had been cited in 120,136 announced cuts so far in 2026, about 21 percent of the total and the leading reason year to date, and in 3,961 in September. Technology companies had announced 165,925 cuts through September, 29 percent of all cuts this year, according to the same report. Challenger's tally sorts announcements by the reason employers state, which is why HubSpot's own words matter for how its cut is read. ^{[8, 10]}

What settles it next

The dated records still to come are the companies' own. HubSpot said most of its charges fall in the fourth quarter of 2026, the role eliminations should be substantially complete by the end of the first quarter of 2027, and the cash should be paid by 30 June 2027; its next results will show the reaffirmed third-quarter figures as the closing procedures the filing mentions are completed. Fair Isaac's $27.0 million charge belongs to the fiscal year that ended on 30 September, which its next annual report will carry, and its plan is due to be substantially complete by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2027, the quarter that ends on 30 June 2027 under its fiscal calendar. Each filing warns that actual costs and timing may differ from its estimates. ^{[1, 3, 6]}

Who it reaches

HubSpot (HUBS) is direct: its 6 October report carries the plan, the charges, the reaffirmed guidance and the letter to staff. Fair Isaac (FICO) is direct: its 6 October report carries the plan to eliminate about 15 percent of positions and the $27.0 million pre-tax charge in its fiscal fourth quarter. ^{[1, 2, 3]}

Sources

Every stock is a company; the desk grades the company behind the stock. This article describes; it does not recommend. Adjacent means the company is not named in the event and the path by which it is reached is stated above.

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