Google CEO signals more jobs cuts this year

Alphabet-owned Google will reportedly sack more employees in the current calendar year, CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in a memo.

Google CEO told his staff that the job cuts will focus “on removing layers to simplify execution and drive velocity in some areas”.

In the upcoming rounds of layoffs, the company looks to adopt artificial intelligence software and automation to lighten workloads. Google, which is trying to close the gap with Microsoft in the AI race, last month unveiled its long-awaited Gemini model.

“These role eliminations are not at the scale of last year’s reductions, and will not touch every team,” Pichai informed all employees in the memo, The Verge reported.

Pichai mentioned, “We have ambitious goals, and will be investing in our big priorities this year.”

Last week, the search engine giant axed hundreds of its employees working on its Voice Assistant units, hardware teams responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit, advertising sales team, and augmented reality team.

The cuts struck both rank-and-file employees and executives.

Bloomberg reported that 630 workers were laid off, including four vice presidents and 25 directors. The Alphabet Workers Union, which represents some Google employees, said more than 1,000 workers have been let go so far in total.

The co-founders of Fitbit, James Park, and Eric Friedman, are also leaving Google as part of the reorganization, Bloomberg reported.

In January 2023, Alphabet announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs, or 6%, of its global workforce.

As of September 2023, the company had 182,381 employees globally. The company employed 190,700 workers before the layoffs last year, in addition to tens of thousands of contractors around the world.

Amazon.com Inc. also laid off hundreds of staff in its Prime Video and studios business last week.

Hundreds of jobs were also cut in its Twitch live-streaming platform and Audible audiobook unit, according to media reports.

Overall, tech firms have let go more than 7,500 employees so far in January, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi. Livemint