BILL Plans 30% Workforce Cut as AI Becomes Top Priority

BILL plans to reduce its workforce by 30% by the end of the quarter as it sharpens its focus on artificial intelligence, BILL CEO and Founder René Lacerte said Thursday (May 7) during the company’s third fiscal quarter 2026 earnings call.

The company is accelerating the use of AI in its own operations and in the financial operations platform it offers businesses and accounting firms.

Lacerte noted during the call that he said during previous earnings calls that innovating with AI was one of BILL’s top three priorities.

“The tangible proof points we have seen rapidly deploying new agents to create more value for customers and driving greater productivity for employees have made it clear that this is no longer one priority among three. It is our No. 1 priority,” Lacerte said.

In the financial operations platform it supplies, BILL has seen well over 100,000 customers start using its agents and improve their financial operations. For example, the company’s invoice coding agent has automated 1.2 million invoices, and its card payments agent has completed tens of thousands of card transactions with no human intervention.

There are 494,000 businesses using BILL’s solutions, according to an investor deck released Thursday.

In the near future, Lacerte said: “Customers will not only be adopting software when they join BILL, they will be bringing on a team of expert agents that learn their financial back office and run it.”

Internally, BILL is using AI across the company to improve both efficiency and execution. For example, the company deployed a quality assurance agent and found that it evaluates all customer interactions, rather than the 1% to 2% that an employee used to review, and that it provides real-time feedback and cues to support staff during calls.

“Seeing this in action enables us to transition to completely new ways of operating,” Lacerte said.

BILL is now entering a new phase that requires focusing resources and attention on priorities that drive the most value, understanding that the time between vision and execution has shortened dramatically, and operating with a team that is flatter, leaner and faster, Lacerte said.

“We have chosen to align to this new structure now,” Lacerte said. “By the end of Q4, we will reduce the workforce by up to 30%.”