Rumor mill says there'll be more cuts before the end of the month, has anybody heard anything concrete about it?
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@265 big
@24z confirmed from multiple sources
@217 How big is this round going to be , is it part of 2025 announced 10% or new ?
@217 Is it confirmed by your inner circles or heard rumors from TeamBlind?
Monday
@1qw nah They are relaxing and just watch s dig its own grave
@1s7 It's true that finding ICs with 10+ years of EDA experience is extremely difficult. On my team, the average retention in an off-shore country is only two or three years. Yet Sassine is massively laying off senior engineers just to save costs. That's insane, and it's probably the worst possible way to cut costs. You're throwing away years of hard-earned expertise that can't be replaced overnight.
If cost-cutting is truly necessary, start at the top. Cut the top five levels of management before cutting the senior ICs who actually build the products and create the value.
We will soon see the consequence of laying of these senior engineers.
@1qe My take is that Sassine is the kind of “let them eat cake”–style, clueless CEO. He lacks the ability to handle difficult situations; if that were the extent of it, things wouldn’t be quite so bad. The real danger is his extreme narcissism and arrogance—he feels compelled to make grand, unnecessary moves to mask his lack of competence. And now, we’re seeing the mess that has created.
When he decided to lay off so many frontline individual contributors, many of them had more than 10 years of experience at Synopsys. They may not have been top performers, but they carried years of institutional knowledge that walked out the door with them. Once they were gone, the remaining employees had to take on even more work to compensate for the loss. This creates a vicious cycle: more layoffs → loss of experience and knowledge → heavier workloads → lower morale and productivity → more people leaving → even more pressure on those who remain. We are already caught in that vicious cycle.
He has never realized how difficult it is to develop a qualified engineer in the EDA industry.
@1qe What I expect is that some high performers will start to leave. I know competitors will not pass up such a timely opportunity to poach talent from Synopsys. They are offering better titles and higher total compensation. They understand the bottom line: they cannot guarantee that the recruited person will perform as well at their company as they did at Synopsys, but they are certain that the absence of these persons will significantly damage Synopsys.
What I saw when Aart was grooming Sassine for CEO, Aart placed him in different positions like GM. The problem I think is that during this grooming period the industry and company was doing well (this included Intel revenue and high IP demand). Sassine was given a BU and told to increase margins so he cut deep and forced integration then gave himself a check mark; interestingly he laid all remote employees == RTO policy now. I believe he thought he could do this (deep cuts and forced integration) with Ansys and considered a heavy financial debt was nothing to worry about. Given this lack of experience of leading in times of difficulty upper management has no other tools in their tool box so they resort to what makes the stock market happy and worked before, despite different external factors (many headwinds). I think management realizes they bit off more than they could chew (no more selfies with Sassine in corporate feeds, why???) and the staff are the ones being punished for lack of experience.
Elliott group is taking advantage of the lack of experience and forcing increased cash flow (improved margins and profit) so they can do a stock buy back for themselves (IMHO their exit strategy). What will be left after they leave will be a skeleton of what was SNPS and Ansys.
@1jn On the ansys side it is truly mind boggling to pull up the org of a normal developer or support staff-teams literally almost can’t handle the layers because there are usually 8-10 levels up to CEO. And it looks like there are about 10-20 sales people for every developer. The people who actually create products must be less than %0.01 of the company.
I agree with you on that one. My assessment was as an investor and cuts are imminent.
As an technical SME, I agree that both Ansys and Synopsys have this "management" and "technical" ladder which is stupid. If one has to be a manager, director and VP, they have to be proven technically and also a good people person. That'll lead to better trust and confidence on the judgements. The promotions to Management tracks mostly has been "is this person d-mb enough to just execute my plans", if yes, you're fit to be in the management. They hate any kind of logical debate. Not saying everyone's that way in management but most of them are
Your assessment implies there is a coherent and rational plan. I question that premise. It seems at the moment that upper mgt is utterly clueless about the actual operational 'details' (reality, facts), and is just flailing about, using the only tool they can think of, namely cutting the obvious cost: people
Moreover, since they don't actually understand what matters at a 'technical' level, namely actual objectives technical and scientific reality, they are cutting away based on politics, personal relationships, unfounded feelings rooted in their ignorance.
Technical companies must have technically and cognitively competent management. I do not believe that to be the case.
@1kn that's a perspective you carry, but I know Sr directors, directors, managers and developers affected by it in the first round. To everybody down voting the logical reasoning behind the layoffs need to understand that seniority level doesn't matter. Hence I've mentioned that there is a political angle to what you're seeing, it's an unfortunate truth of corporate life that managers, directors and VPs try to remove road blocks even though you may be a good performer.
@1jn I have not heard of a single manager laid off. It has all been experienced developers and support staff.
The pre-merger math made this overhaul inevitable. Ansys generated ~$380k in revenue per employee, while Synopsys lagged near ~$300k with 20k+ workers. Carrying 26,000+ total headcount for an $8.5B combined entity creates massive organizational drag, bloated middle management, and toxic internal politics.
This isn't just standard cost-cutting; it’s an operational reset. Removing redundant management layers and cutting low performers restores decision velocity and pushes span-of-control ratios where they belong. The paralysis among VPs and directors worried about their heads is real, but right-sizing is the only way to protect margins and actually execute on the integration.
@1ca predatory status meetings in US
My manager has been pushing for direct report performance updates with high priority. I have 10 reports under me and they’re majorly focused on grabbing as much info as possible about 4 specific engineers. Leads me to believe they are going to be the targets of the upcoming round.
@1an May I ask which country ?
@191 I have heard from some over 50 friends in Ansys saying they have been called into recent status meetings that feel like managers are hunting for layoff victims.
@171 Not sure whether Ansys R&D will get cut again. It's pretty much only bones already.
Layoff confirmed on August 31.
@qa Don’t expect them to cut middle or top management. Those folks aren’t leaders. They’re the ones holding the Sharpie, circling names on the layoff list. And obviously, their own names never get circled.
The only thing that might shake this up is if enough high performers leave, morale among the people who remain to actually build the product craters, and the company starts getting smoked by Cadence, Siemens, and every AI‑powered startup run by three caffeinated PhDs in a garage. Only then might investors finally look up from their spreadsheets and ask, “Wait… who’s driving this thing?”
As an individual contributor, you don’t get a vote in any of this. So stop doom‑scrolling and start moving. Polish your interview skills. Ping former colleagues at other EDA companies. Open doors before you need them.
And yes—this is harder when you’re in your 50s or 60s. But if you’re not ready to retire and you don’t want to be on the next layoff spreadsheet, this is the path. Not fun. Not glamorous. Just necessary.
Really wish they cleanse the middle and top management this round. Sad to see Ansys sinking with Synopsys
@h7 Many people in their 50s and older—especially those around retirement age—have been laid off, and most of them still haven’t found jobs. That’s the reality.
@h2 In my organization, regional managers and directors who actually laid off their subordinates said they had selected the employees in consultation with local managers. Things may be different at headquarters, but this is actually happening in other countries.
@gz Complaining gets you nowhere. Cadence and Siemens have many job openings right now. So take action and apply. You have absolutely nothing to lose. If they hire you, you’ll likely secure a better title and a significant bump in total compensation. That’s a win for you, and it’s also good for your colleagues who have to remain at Synopsys, as it may push the company to adjust their pay to stay competitive.
@gz in this rif group leaders and low level managers know nothing about somebody on their team getting fired until the very minute it happens. Zero communication, no preparation, no choices, no discretion, nothing. Very few exceptions. And this goes up several levels all the way to directors. It's about time to fire those who orchestrate the constant RIF, as they are really ki-ling morale.
Everyone keeps talking about senior executives, but in reality, the people deciding who gets laid off on the front lines are your supervisors or their superiors. And despite being incompetent, those managers are sacrificing their subordinates to save their own jobs.
Take a look at the marketing department. Are the managers in any country actually producing results? Those incompetent managers are still living it up. Headquarters needs to wake up and fire the managers in departments that aren’t delivering results.
@f4 It’s not uncommon for an incompetent leader to make a grand, unnecessary move to hide his incompetence. That’s exactly what Sassine is doing. He’s about to sink two giant ships.
For those of you on these ships, my suggestion is to start preparing. I’ve already reached out to a few EDA companies, and so far, the response has been encouraging.
The acquisition deal executed by Sassine will for sure go down in history as one of the best classic failure cases for business school students to study in decades to come. Pure tragedy led by an id--t.
Elliot only cares about profit so expect cuts until they make their money back or the company files for bankruptcy - its unfortunate they wanted to take Ansys down with them
@OP In several departments I have been told they fired the senior people and rehired younger replacements. Cut and dried illegal age based discrimination.
Is there any understanding out there for which cost centers/departments targeted for next round? In a G&A group and we had a massive cut last wave. Can’t imagine how’d they’d remove more of us but decisions seem very short sighted from higher ups
Upper management will never, ever share anything specific, especially when it comes to workforce reductions. Even my manager seems to have no information, although he might just be pretending not to know.
So there's nothing concrete, but we all know that another round is coming soon.
Ansys was cheap. Synopsys somehow managed to become even cheaper.
To everyone affected: keep your head up. There are way too many opportunities out there for talented engineers. Let upper management keep playing their favorite game, laying off people who are 10× more useful than they are. Then they’ll act surprised when productivity magically disappears. The funniest part? Betting everything on agentic AI to replace hardworking engineers. Honestly, if any positions are truly replaceable, I’d start by looking at the first five layers of management. I doubt anyone outside their meeting invites would even notice. And for those impacted, don’t stress. With your level of experience, there’s a very good chance you’ll land somewhere that pays significantly better than this cheapskate operation. Sometimes a layoff isn’t a setback. It’s a salary adjustment in disguise.
@ad Those senior people are indeed the planks in the eyes of the top management.
@a7 It will not a surprise at all if Sunnyvale is heavily hit. There are so many gray hair people who collect high paychecks. They are the planks in the management.
@OP Multiple people I trust are saying a RIF is coming before the end of the month. It’s become a widely discussed topic around the Sunnyvale campus, though nothing’s been officially confirmed.
Plausible as earning is on the 26th, I guess we shall soon find out. Just keep sending those resumes.