Identity & Access Management
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Multi-factor & Risk-based Authentication
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Security Operations
3rd Round of Layoffs in 3 Years Comes as Rival CyberArk Surpasses Okta’s Valuation

Okta will execute its third round of layoffs in three years, cutting 180 employees to reallocate resources toward priorities to drive growth.
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The San Francisco-based identity security giant on Tuesday announced plans to reduce its staff by 3% – or roughly 180 employees – in what has become somewhat of an annual tradition for Okta. The company laid off 300 employees – or 5% of its staff – in February 2023 to cut operating costs and aid profitability, then cut 400 workers – or 7% of its staff – in February 2024 to run the company with “greater efficiency” (see: Okta Lays Off 400 Employees in Second Round of Dismissals).
Okta said it will spend roughly $11 million on cash employee severance and benefits costs, which will primarily be paid in the fiscal quarter ending April 30, 2025. The firm also will record a minor adjustment to its stock-based compensation expense in the current fiscal quarter related to equity compensation for employees who were terminated. Okta said it will provide support and resources to workers being laid off.
The job cuts make Okta one of just eight pure-play cybersecurity companies to publicly disclose at least three rounds of layoffs since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Layoffs.FYI. F5 and Latch have each carried out five rounds of layoffs over the past half-decade, Aqua Security has executed four rounds of layoffs, and Cybereason, IronNet, Snyk and Veriff have each done three rounds of layoffs (see: Okta Lays Off 300 Employees After Sales Execution Challenges).
How Okta’s Growth, Valuation Compare to Rival CyberArk
Okta’s stock is up $0.19 – or 0.2% – to $93.05 per share in trading midday Tuesday. The company’s stock is down more than 68% from a peak trading price of $291.78 per share in February 2021. That’s in stark contrast to competitor CyberArk’s stock price, which has increased nearly 130% over the past four years. CyberArk is now worth 15% more than Okta despite having a 44% smaller workforce.
Despite the layoffs, Okta’s headcount has held relatively steady in recent years as the company hired new workers in other areas. Okta’s headcount dipped to 5,908 as of January 2024, down 1.8% from 6,013 in January 2023, but had risen 1.6% to 6,000 prior to the latest job cuts. Rivals are adding jobs faster, with CyberArk’s headcount up 19% to 3,296 between December 2022 and September 2024.
From a profitability standpoint, Okta recorded net income of $5 million in the first nine months of the company’s 2025 fiscal year, improving from a net loss of $311 million, or $1.91 per share, in the first nine months of fiscal 2024. During the same timeframe, Okta’s sales surged to $1.93 billion, up 16.3% from $1.66 billion a year earlier.
Okta’s growth rate lags CyberArk, where sales in the first nine months of 2024 jumped to $686.4 million, up 29.8% from $528.8 million a year earlier. Like Okta, CyberArk has also turned profitable over the past year, recording net income of $3.7 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the first nine months of 2024, up from a net loss of $75.4 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, a year earlier.
Why Okta Has Struggled in Recent Years
Okta has suffered a number of internal security issues in recent years, including a September 2023 case in which hackers stole details for all users of its primary customer support system, including a list of usernames and contact details. And in March 2022, a member of extortion group Lapsus$ gained access to Okta servers for five days through the compromised account of a third-party client support engineer.
In response, Okta initiated a 90-day push to improve its security architecture and operations and ended up reducing credential stuffing attempts and malicious bot traffic for its largest customers by more than 90%. The firm took steps to become one of the world’s most secure organizations by deploying multi-factor authentication to nearly all accounts and integrating its own security products into its operations.
Okta has also experienced operational challenges in recent years, with the company’s $6.5 billion buy of Auth0 resulting in confusion for the firm’s combined sales force since they weren’t sure which customer identity and access management tool to sell in which scenario. Okta tried to fix the mess by rebranding its native CIAM tool extended workforce identity, making Auth0 the firm’s sole customer identity tool.