A Look at DataStax Bluewashing (IBM and Layoffs)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on May 02, 2026,
updated May 02, 2026

Does IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna do to DataStax what he did to Confluent, HashiCorp, and Red Hat just months after acquisition? If so, does the media pay attention? Watsonx has been a phenomenal failure. So it's hard to believe many DataStax workers will be retained.

Last week: IBM's Debt Increased Over $5 Billion in 3 Months While IBM Laid Off Many in Europe, US, Confluent, HashiCorp, and Red Hat

2 weeks: Almost 1,000 IBM Layoffs Not Newsworthy (Nobody Covers It), Unlike When Snap Does It and Mentions a Celebrated - or Reviled - Buzzword

2020: The $967 million startup DataStax, reported to be heading for IPO, laid off as many as 100 employees after a major management shakeup

2022: Datastax fired pregnant coworker

DataStax's announcement of its acquisition by IBM in May 2025 (since prior agreement) said little about overlapping roles and RAs - a euphemism for layoffs.

This man who has worked there since 2012 (when the company was funded by de facto loans) is leaving:

This was hours ago.

He is not alone:

"Working 18 hour days":

IBM is a place that many people leave or get pushed out of. Very few of them talk about this publicly. PIPs are used to humiliate and work people to death - no matter how hard they try to meet the "performance improvement" goals, they'll still get canned. That's why many resign the moment they hear this acronym. █