Intuit’s announcement this week that it will eliminate about 3,000 positions — roughly 17% of its global staff — sent shockwaves through the tech sector. For the 11 million businesses that depend on Mailchimp for email marketing, however, the core issue is more direct: Should they stick with the platform or move on? The reality, when you look at Mailchimp’s recent product activity, Intuit’s earnings commentary, and the broader competitive market, is more complex than the headlines imply. Mailchimp is not being shut down. But it is no longer being treated by Intuit as a primary growth engine — and that change carries implications for marketers who count on it. When Intuit acquired Mailchimp for $12 billion, it was a cornerstone of the company’s small-business strategy. Today, Intuit is pulling back on its commitment to the email marketing tool. In a memo to staff posted on the Intuit blog, CEO Sasan Goodarzi wrote that the company is “reducing investments in areas including Mailchimp, and streamlining our engineering and product organizations.” In other words: ‘We’re holding onto it because we can’t get the price we want right now.’ On last week’s earnings call, Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick pressed Goodarzi on how much of the restructuring was driven by resizing Mailchimp versus gains from AI. Goodarzi declined to break out the numbers, but he did spell out the strategy. “We believe that Mailchimp’s revised cash flow profile will generate more value for Intuit than a third party is likely to pay for that asset in the current equity and debt environment for software.” CFO Sandeep Aujla added: “The terms of revenue…