The list of large technology companies that have announced massive layoffs continues to grow. Alphabet, the parent company of Googlehas confirmed internally that will dispense with 6% of its global workforce as part of a strategy to save expenses in light of the current bad economic situation. Something that, precisely, companies like Amazon, Meta or recently Microsoft have also done.
In the case of Google, 6% of layoffs will affect a total of 12,000 employees located in different areasas confirmed by the head of the company, Sundar Pichai, to its workers through an internal email obtained by Bloomberg. “These are important moments to sharpen our focus, redesign our cost base and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities”, has detailed the CEO of Google (Alphabet). Pichai also says he takes “full responsibility for the decisions” that have led the firm to lay off thousands of workers.
Google’s CEO has also announced that affected employees working in the United States will receive 16 weeks of compensation. They will also continue with their health benefits for the next 6 months after the layoffs. The compensation that workers currently operating outside the United States will receive is unknown.
Layoffs at Google: drop in revenue and demands from investors
Google, like other technology companies, has noticed how inflation and the current bad economic situation have affected much of its business. The latest quarterly results reflected a year-on-year drop in revenue of 27%, with a loss of 13,900 million dollars. After the results, the company confirmed its intention to cut expenses and reduce the number of new employees, although it did not detail anything about layoffs.
Since BloombergHowever, they indicate that Google’s decision to do without 6% of its workforce has been largely conditioned by the demands of its investors. Among them, Chris Hohn, manager of The Children Investment (TCI) who affirmed that the company “You have too many employees and the cost per employee is too high”.
In any case, Google is not the only company that has announced massive layoffs. Microsoft also recently confirmed that about 10,000 employees witnessed from different divisions of the company. That is, 5% of its global workforce. Meta has also announced layoffs that will affect 13% of its workforce, some 11,000 workers. Amazon is in the lead, with a total of 18,000 layoffs confirmed by its CEO Andy Jassy.