Google to sack 12,000 employees

The management of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has announced a plan to reduce its workforce with about 12,000 employees globally in the latest round of big tech layoffs, explaining that the new decision would affect 6 per cent of its workforce across the world.

Penpushing reports that Alphabet Incorporation. Chief Executive Officer, Sundar Pichai, in a blog posted on Friday affirmed that the company has decided to reduce its workforce by approximately 12,000 roles, stressing that separate email has been sent to the affected

‘We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices. This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with’, he wrote.

‘I’m deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here. I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI’,  Pichai said.

Penpushing further reports that the Chief Executive Officer pointed out that over the past two years the company has seen periods of dramatic growth, explaining that to fully capture it, the management need to make tough choices.

‘To fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices. So, we’ve undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company. The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions,” he said.

Penpushing also reports that Pichai noted that the layoff is an important moment to sharpen the company’s focus, re-engineer its cost base, and direct talent and capital to the company’s highest priorities.

The record has it that the company had in its earnings report last October announced revenue of $69 billion and profit of $13.9 billion, marking growing revenue (up from $65.1 billion the previous year) but shrinking profits (down from $18.9 billion the same quarter in 2021).

Penpushing reports that earlier in January, Salesforce announced it was laying off around 10 per cent of its employees, while same vein, last year, Amazon laid off about three per cent of its corporate employees and less than one per cent of its global workforce.

The Twitter Incorporation in November 2022 laid off half its workforce as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation, while Meta, the Facebook’s parent company, also announced it would lay off more than 11,000 of its employees, reducing the company’s workforce by about 13 per cent, while Microsoft on Thursday announced plans to lay off approximately 11,000 of its employees, reducing the company’s workforce by roughly 5 per cent.

Penpushing further reports that Google is the latest technology company to lay off its employees in a new wave of massive layoffs in the tech industry in which employees of Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, IT group Salesforce and Microsoft have been affected.

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