Confluent Insiders: IBM Laid Off Over 800 at Confluent, Not Just 800

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 20, 2026,
updated Mar 26, 2026

Half as day ago:

This week has been heavy. With the news of layoffs at Confluent due to the acquisition by IBM affecting 800+ of my colleagues, I am feeling a profound mix of sadness and immense pride.

Also see:

As many of you may know, Confluent has been acquired by IBM, and I am part of the layoff affecting 800 employees.

A colleague:

Having gone through a layoff myself in 2024, I know how uncertain moments like this can be. I’m grateful that my role is being retained, but it comes with a sense of survivor’s guilt. So many of the people impacted aren’t just colleagues—they’re a big part of what made this place so special.

Wait, you might not be a survivor (at IBM, nobody is safe... not for long).

Some of many (several dozens):

Seeing the news about the recent layoffs at Confluent is tough.

It’s a heavy week for the Confluent community, following the news of the IBM acquisition and the resulting layoffs.

It breaks my heart to hear about another company going through layoffs. My thoughts are with every single person who has been affected at Confluent.

Anyone in my network affected by the recent Confluent layoffs and looking for keep working in the Kafka space, please reach out to me as OSO has lots of exciting engagements in the pipeline for Q2

Seeing a lot of strong talent impacted by layoffs at Confluent and Monte Carlo.

Although we are genuinely excited about IBM's acquisition of Confluent and the opportunities it creates for customers and for us as a premier partner, the news of the layoffs this week is deeply felt.

To all of my friends at Confluent that were hit by the IBM layoffs through the merger: Join us at Dremio! We are growing and have an awesome Agentic Lakehouse SaaS product. I have 3 open roles in my team.

Been thinking a lot about the folks impacted by the recent wave of layoffs at Confluent. It’s a tough moment, and it hits close to home seeing so many great people navigating uncertainty all at once

We are seeing many dozens of posts about Confluent layoffs (the above are just a sub-sample), some from those impacted and insiders who stay at Confluent, now IBM.

Why did not even a single news site (that we can find) cover the IBM-induced layoffs at Confluent?

What happened to the media?

Why does IBM's CEO get to pretend or lie to the media? And the media won't even ask any tough questions...

For the record, the layoffs at Confluent won't be over. After the bluewashing there will be "IBM RAs" impacting Confluent folks, aside from PIPs. █

Confluent Insiders: IBM Laid Off Over 800 at Confluent, Not Just 800

Other Recent Techrights' Posts