Google has confirmed layoffs across its hardware, engineering, and Google Assistant teams, a restructuring effort post the pandemic. The Verge‘s Sean Hollister reports that the layoffs is beyond the focus on the Google Hardware team, impacting core engineering and Assistant divisions as well.
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Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini, while saying a few hundred role eliminations in each of these segments, remained tight-lipped on the total number of job cuts during this round.
The Verge pressed for clarity on whether the disclosed layoffs represent the entirety of the workforce reduction, but responses from Mencini halted at confirming existing reports from 9to5Google and Semafor.
The New York Times has also covered the engineering team layoffs, questions about the full scope of the downsizing efforts.
This wave of layoffs appears to be part of strategy to enhance efficiency and reallocate resources towards its primary objectives.
Mencini shared that various teams have been undergoing organizational changes to optimize operations and adapt to evolving priorities globally.
While the reported layoffs amount to around a thousand employees, Google’s parent company, employed over 182,000 individuals as of September 30th, 2023.
As the tech industry saw a trend of workforce reductions, Google joins the ranks of companies like Meta, Spotify, and Amazon, all of which have announced job cuts in recent times.
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Meta, the parent company of Facebook, slashed over 20,000 jobs, while Spotify implemented a 17% reduction in its global workforce in a bid to enhance profitability.
Amazon, too, recently laid off hundreds in its Prime Video and studios units, following earlier plans to cut thousands of jobs after a pandemic-induced hiring surge.
The competitive industry is particularly fierce, with Google currently engaged in a heated rivalry with Microsoft for dominance in the artificial intelligence domain.
This series of workforce changes follows a similar trend initiated a year ago when Google announced layoffs affecting approximately 6% of its workforce.
This trend of layoffs is not unique to Google, as other tech giants have also resorted to similar measures. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, slashed over 20,000 jobs in the past year, while Spotify announced a 17% reduction in its global workforce. Amazon recently laid off hundreds in its Prime Video and studios units.
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