12000 employees at Google’s parent company, Alphabet, will be laid off. After hiring heavily during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sundar Pichai said the company faces a “different economic reality”. Despite the slowdown in the global economy, the company announced job cuts.
An internal memo from Pichai confirmed the layoffs. The company will make cuts to its teams around the world.
It has been a period of dramatic growth over the past two years. According to Pichai, we hired to match and fuel that growth under a different economic reality.
“I am confident regarding the huge opportunity in front of us because our mission, products, and services are of high value, and we invested early in AI.” Making tough decisions will be key to seizing this opportunity. We’ve reviewed our people and roles across product areas and functions to ensure that they align with our highest priorities as a company. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions.”
In contrast to the rise in revenues during the pandemic, Google’s revenues have remained relatively flat in the past year. During the quarter ending September 2022, the company reported revenue of $69 billion, down slightly from $69.6 billion in the previous quarter. Investors pushed Alphabet to reduce costs last year, including activist investor TCI Fund Management.
“We are saddened by the news today,” Pichai said. “I take full responsibility for my decisions that led to these changes.” “We have worked hard to hire and have loved working with incredibly talented people.” “I’m deeply sorry.” “Thank you for the opportunity.”
There was news earlier this week that Microsoft would be laying off 10,000 employees due to customers cutting digital spending.
