WiseTech to Cut 2,000 Jobs as It Asks AI to Boost Profitability — Update

By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--WiseTech Global will cut about 2,000 jobs over the next few months as the logistics-software provider leans into AI to boost profitability.

The Australian company on Wednesday said that it aimed to reduce the size of several internal teams by up to 50% as part of what it called an efficiency program. It will start making staff redundant in the June half and continue into its 2027 fiscal year, which starts July 1.

WiseTech, which services more than 22,000 global logistics providers, said it will initially focus on its product and development, and customer service teams.

WiseTech, which reported a 2% rise in first-half underlying net profit to $114.5 million, expects AI to structurally lower costs, improve scalability and automate processes, Chief Executive Zubin Appoo said.

"The era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over," Appoo said.

"AI amplifies the productivity of our expertise in logistics and trade, the rich datasets that WiseTech holds, and the network advantage that we have built over 30 years."

WiseTech, which reports in U.S. dollars, lifted its underlying net profit for the six months through December from $112.1 million a year earlier. It narrowly beat the average analyst forecast of $114.1 million, as calculated by Visible Alpha.

Revenue rose by 76% to $672 million, aided by a contribution from the E2Open business it acquired for $2.1 billion in August. E2Open staff will be among those made redundant, WiseTech said.

Analysts had expected first-half revenue of $653.3 million.

The board declared an interim dividend of 6.8 U.S. cents, compared with 6.7 cents a year earlier.

Including one-off items including amortization and interest expenses related to the E2Open acquisition, statutory profit fell by 36% to $68.1 million.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, rose by 31% to $252.1 million. Amid the integration of E2Open, WiseTech reported an Ebitda margin of 38%, down from 51% a year earlier.

WiseTech said it still expects Ebitda of between $550 million and $585 million for the full fiscal year, at a margin of between 40 and 41%. It also maintained its revenue guidance.

Its guidance excludes the impact of the redundancies, it said. The cost of its efficiency program will likely offset any savings made in the current fiscal year, it added.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2026 17:59 ET (22:59 GMT)