Google to lay off 6% of its global workforce

2023-01-20

After Amazon, Microsoft and Meta carried out massive layoffs, Google is doing the same and plans to let about 6% of its global workforce go. That amounts to approximately 12,000 people.

For comparison, Amazon"s latest round of layoffs cut 18,000 jobs (6%), Microsoft"s cut was 10,000 jobs (5%), while Meta had to release 11,000 people (13%). So Google"s layoff isn"t disproportionately bigger, but that"s still a lot of people about to be left without a job. Everyone in the tech industry - and not only - is bracing for the economic downturn and it"s looking for a way to cut costs. Naturally, job cutting is one of the levers companies can pull.

Google lays off 6% of its global workforce

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.

Via