LONDON (AP) — Google is laying off 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its workforce, the latest to cut staff amid the economic boom the industry has ridden during the decline of the COVID-19 pandemic. Became a technology company.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who also heads parent company Alphabet, notified staff at Silicon Valley giant Google of the cuts last week in an email that was also posted on the company’s news blog.
It’s the largest layoff ever for the company and follows the tens of thousands of layoffs recently announced by Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook parent company Meta, and other tech companies amid a bleak industry outlook. In addition, we are tightening our belts as the industry outlook darkens. Just this month, a major player in the sector announced at least 48,000 job cuts.
“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.”
The layoffs, he said, reflect a “rigorous overhaul” of the business Google has undertaken.
Pichai said the jobs cut “span across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and geographies.” He said he was “deeply sorry” for the dismissal.
Regulatory filings show how Google’s workforce swelled during the pandemic, from 119,000 at the end of 2019 to about 187,000 by the end of last year.
Pichai said Google, which was founded nearly a quarter of a century ago, is “destined to go through a difficult economic cycle.”
“These are critical times to sharpen our focus, redesign our cost base, and direct talent and capital to our top priorities,” he wrote. He called out the company’s investments in artificial intelligence as an area of opportunity.
According to Pichai’s letter, there will be job cuts in the United States and other unspecified countries.
Tech companies, “not so long ago the darlings of the stock market,” are freezing hiring and cutting jobs in preparation for a recession, according to a memo from UK-based Interactive Investor analyst Victoria Sklar. It is said that it is forced.
“Digital spending is suffering, and with it ad revenue,” she wrote.
Just this week, Microsoft announced 10,000 job cuts. This equates to nearly his 5% of employees. Amazon said this month it would cut 18,000 jobs, just a fraction of its 1.5 million strong workforce. Meanwhile, business software maker Salesforce laid off about 8,000 employees, or 10% of its workforce. Last fall, Facebook’s parent company Meta announced it would cut 11,000 positions, or 13% of its workforce. Elon Musk cut staff at Twitter after buying a social media company last fall.
These layoffs have also hit smaller players. UK-based cybersecurity firm Sophos laid off 450 employees, or 10% of its global workforce. Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase has cut 20% of its workforce, about 950, in his second layoff in less than a year.
US employment is resilient despite signs of economic slowdown, with a further 223,000 jobs added in December. However, the technology sector has grown very quickly over the last few years as demand increased as employees started working remotely.
The CEOs of many companies are responsible for rapid growth, but those companies, even after recent job cuts, are much bigger than they were before the pandemic-induced boom began.
“I take full responsibility for the decisions that have brought us here,” Pichai wrote.
Tech layoffs are a “shocking number,” but the impact on tech jobs is “not as bad as it seems,” said John Blevins, an adjunct professor at Cornell Business School.
“Those laid off workers will soon find new jobs,” Blevins said. “They have high qualifications from these big companies. That knowledge will be transferred and really benefit everyone.”
Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stressed the importance of taking advantage of advances in artificial intelligence technology in announcing the layoffs. This reflects renewed competition among tech giants sparked by Microsoft’s expanded partnership with San Francisco startup OpenAI.
Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Alphabet rose more than 4% on Friday.
