Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is laying off 12,000 workers, about 6% of its global workforce.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced the news in an email to employees on Friday (full text below).
“Over the past two years, we have seen a period of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote. “To keep pace with that growth, we hired for economic realities that are different from those we are currently facing.”
Pichai said the tech giant underwent a “rigorous review across product areas and functions” and its roles were eliminated “across alphabets, product areas, functions, levels and geographies.”
Alphabet’s workforce grew from 119,000 at the end of 2019 to about 187,000 by September last year during the pandemic.
Silicon Valley-based Google opened its first shop in the Seattle area over 15 years ago. The company currently operates sprawling campuses in the South Lake Union and Fremont neighborhoods of Seattle and Kirkland, Washington. In his GeekWire tour of his new Google office in Kirkland last spring, the company said he employs more than 7,200 people in the region.
Alphabet declined to comment to GeekWire on how the layoffs will affect workers in the Seattle area. Posts on LinkedIn indicate that some have been let go.
The move to cut jobs comes in a week of particularly high tech layoffs.
Microsoft announced Wednesday that it will cut 10,000 jobs between now and the end of March. At least 878 of the layoffs are taking place at Microsoft’s offices in Redmond and Issaquah, Bellevue, Washington.
Amazon is laying off 18,000 corporate and tech workers, including at least 2,300 in the Seattle area.
Full email from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to Googlers:
google employee,
I have hard news to share. We have decided to reduce our workforce by about 12,000. We have already sent another email to affected US employees. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.
This means we are saying goodbye to the incredibly talented people we have worked so hard to employ and love working with. The fact that these changes affect the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me. I take full responsibility for the decisions that have brought us here.
Over the past two years, we have seen a period of dramatic growth. To keep pace with that growth, we have adopted economic realities that differ from those we are currently facing.
We believe there is a great opportunity ahead of us because of the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI. To fully capture it, you have to make a difficult choice. That’s why we undertook a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our top corporate priorities. The roles that you remove reflect the results of that review. Across alphabets, product areas, features, levels and geographies.
To Retiring Googlers: Thank you for all your hard work helping people and businesses around the world. Your contributions are invaluable and we appreciate them.
This transition won’t be easy, but it will support employees looking for their next opportunity.
In the United States:
- Pay employees during the notice period (minimum 60 days).
- We also offer a severance package of 2 weeks each year at Google in addition to 16 weeks of salary, accelerating vesting of GSUs for at least 16 weeks.
- I will pay my bonus for 2022 and my remaining paid vacation.
- For those affected, we will provide six months of health care, employment services and immigration support.
- Outside the United States, we support our employees in line with local practices.
As a company nearly 25 years old, we are going through a difficult economic cycle. These are critical times to sharpen our focus, rebuild our cost base, and direct our people and capital to our top priorities.
Constraints in some areas allow you to bet big in others. Our AI-first transformation of the company a few years ago was a breakthrough for our business and the industry at large.
Thanks to these early investments, Google’s products are better than ever. We are also preparing to share an all-new experience for users, developers, and businesses. We have a huge opportunity in front of us to use AI across our products, and we are ready to tackle it boldly and responsibly.
All this work is a continuation of the healthy ignorance of the impossible that has been at the core of our culture from the beginning. If you look around Google today, you can see that same spirit and energy that drives our efforts. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to fulfill our mission, even in the most difficult days. Today is certainly one of them.
I think there are many questions about how we move forward. We will have a Town Hall on Monday. Check the calendar for details. Until then, take great care as you absorb this difficult news. As part of that, if you’re just starting work, start working from home today.
-thunder
