Key Highlights
- According to an internal memo from CEO Sundar Pichai, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is cutting around 6% of its global workforce, i.e., 12,000 jobs.
- The layoffs are global and will impact US staff immediately and affect teams across Alphabet, including recruiting, some corporate functions, and some engineering and products teams.
According to an internal memo from Alphabet’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, the company is cutting 12,000 jobs, nearly 6% of its global workforce. He said in an email that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led u here.” Still, the company has a “substantial opportunity in front of us” with its early investments in artificial intelligence.
Reuters reported that the layoffs are global and will impact US staff immediately. Layoffs will also affect teams across Alphabet, such as recruiting, corporate functions, and some engineering and product teams.
Pichai said in the memo that the company will pay affected employees at least 16 weeks of severance and six months of health benefits in the US, with other regions receiving packages based on local laws and practices. There was no further comment beyond Pichai’s mail.
Reduction In Alphabet’s Revenue Growth
The overall revenue growth of Alphanet decreased to 6% in the quarter, but Google Cloud saw a 38% year-on-year increase to $6.9 billion, providing much-needed support for the company.
There were speculations from some industry watchers that the reported move to increase the number of low-performing employees would result in job losses.
The move comes after Alphabet posted lower-than-expected numbers for its third financial quarter in October 2022. It follows similar large layoffs announced by other tech companies, such as Microsoft cutting 10,000 jobs and Amazon cutting 18,000 jobs.
According to Layoffs.fyi, an online tracker of job losses in the technology sector, 133 tech companies have laid off 38,815 employees across the world in the first 20 days of 2023.
