After Amazon, Microsoft and Meta made mass layoffs, Google is doing the same and plans to lay off about 6% of its global workforce. This equates to about 12,000 people.
In comparison, Amazon cut 18,000 jobs (6%) in its latest round of layoffs, Microsoft cut 10,000 jobs (5%), and Meta had to cut 11,000 jobs (13%). So Google’s layoffs are not disproportionately large, but there are still a lot of people who will lose their jobs. Everyone in the tech industry — and not just that — is bracing for a recession and looking for ways to cut costs. Naturally, layoffs are one of the levers companies can pull.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, said in an official statement that the remaining Google staff should focus more than ever and work with a sense of great urgency. He then added that Google will put greater effort at developing its AI-related services in order to compete with rival companies working on similar projects.
Google’s revenue this year grew to $69 billion, but actual profits shrunk to $13.9 billion. And with global economies expected to face serious challenges in 2023 Google is trying to act before things get much worse.
