Google parent Alphabet is laying off 12,000 of its nearly 190,000 employees, about 6 per cent of the total workforce, after a review across its product areas and functions, amid a wave of layoffs across the technology industry.
“I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here,” company’s chief executive Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees on Friday, viewed by The National.
“We have undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company.
“The roles we are eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions.
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A bicycle path along Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
Workstations in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
Sitting area at Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
Sitting area at Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
Interior view in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
Interior view of Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
Interior view in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
An exterior view of building BV200 and Google shared bicycles during a tour of Google's new Bay View Campus. Reuters -
A seating area in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
Google announced the opening of its new Bay View campus in Silicon Valley, representing the company's first time developing its own major campus. EPA -
Art work in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
An Office directory in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
Interior and ceiling view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
The Google bicycle Pedal Park inside Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
Binary code and art work on the window of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
The side of Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
An outdoor weight room in front of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
Binary code on the window of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
The Google logo in front of Google's Bay View Building. EPA -
An interior view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
An Interior view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA -
A Google Android bot in the lobby of BV100, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
The Bay View campus was designed by architects Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Heatherwick Studio, as well as Google's design and engineering teams and spans 42 acres adjacent to the open space, two office buildings, and 1,000-person event centre. EPA -
A coffee table made out of a wood stump in the sitting area at BV200, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA -
Google employees in the cafeteria area in Mountain View, California. EPA -
A Google employee in the cafeteria area in Mountain View, California. EPA -
A worker inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg -
A seating area inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg -
Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg -
Workers inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg -
A mural inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg -
Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg -
Workers in one of the many dining areas inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg -
Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg -
Desks inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg -
One of nine pieces of art created by Bay Area artists for the campus. Reuters
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
Alphabet's share price jumped by about 2 per cent during premarket trading to $94.67 on Friday after the announcement. The stock has fallen more than 30 per cent over the past year.
In October, Alphabet, the world's largest provider of search and video advertisements, reported a 27 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit on an annual basis.
The company’s net profit dropped to about $13.9 billion in the three months through to the end of September, compared with the same period in 2021.
“As an almost 25-year-old company, we are bound to go through difficult economic cycles. These are important moments to sharpen our focus, re-engineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” Mr Pichai said.
“Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others. Pivoting the company to be AI-first years ago led to groundbreaking advances across our businesses and the whole industry.”
Alphabet spent more than $10.3 billion on research and development, or 14.8 per cent of its total sales in the third quarter of last year. This was about 34 per cent more than the R&D expenditure for the same period in 2021.
“I remain optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days. Today is certainly one of them … we are getting ready to share some entirely new experiences for users, developers and businesses, too,” Mr Pichai said.
“We have a substantial opportunity in front of us with AI [artificial intelligence] across our products and are prepared to approach it boldly and responsibly.”
Earlier this month, Verily, a biotechnology unit of Alphabet, said it was cutting about15 per cent of its staff.
In the recent months, Google has also cancelled its next-generation Pixelbook laptop and permanently closed its cloud-gaming service Stadia to cut costs.
Alphabet’s job cuts follow similar moves at Microsoft and Amazon. After boosting hiring at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand has been slowing as interest rates rise and recession fears grow, leading to a sell-off in the technology sector last year and a disappointing earnings season.
Microsoft is laying off 10,000 of its 221,000 employees to adjust to changing macroeconomics and to cut overall costs at the technology company, amid a wave of industry layoffs.
The world’s biggest e-commerce company, Amazon, announced this month that it was laying off more than 18,000 workers, about 6 per cent of its workforce, as concerns about the US economy persist and fears of a global slowdown mount.
In November, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would lay off 11,000 staff, or 13 per cent of the total workforce, amid declining revenue.
PC maker Hewlett Packard said it would lay off as many as 6,000 employees over the next three years.
HP, which has a payroll of about 61,000 people, said it aimed to secure $1.4 billion in annual savings through 2025.
Meanwhile, Twitter went through a tumultuous period last year in which half of its 7,500 employees were sacked a few days after the social media platform was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk in late October.
Apple in October paused hiring for most jobs outside of research and development, according to a report from Bloomberg.
