Google Parent Alphabet To Cut 12,000 Staff Worldwide

Google parent Alphabet has become the latest U.S. tech giant to make deep staff cuts.

The company is planning to axe 12,000 staff after a “rigorous review” of the business, according to a blog post from Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. This represents about 6% of its global workforce.

Just this week, Microsoft revealed it was eliminating 10,000 roles, while Facebook parent Meta is in the process of downsizing 13%, Amazon is cutting 18,000 staff and Twitter has halved its numbers since Elon Musk became its owner.

In an email to staff sent today, Pichai took responsibilities for the cuts. “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,” he wrote.

“I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI. To fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices. So, we’ve 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’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions.”

U.S. staff who are losing their roles have already been informed but the process could take longer in other countries “due to local laws and practises,” wrote Sundar.

Severed employees will receive pay for a minimum of 60 days during the notice period, and receive a package starting at 16 week’s salary and an additional two for every year at Google, while at least 16 weeks’ of GSU vesting will be accelerated. Bonuses from 2022 and remaining vacation time will be paid and six months of healthcare, job placement services and immigration support will be provided.

Outside the U.S., support will be “in line with local practices.”

A town hall will be held on Monday for staff to ask further questions.

U.S. tech giants have been facing a reckoning as the global economy heads towards something of a meltdown. More than 150,000 sector job losses were felt in 2022, in part to the hiring boom that Pichai referred to, as demand for digital commerce and services hit a peak during the pandemic. Combined with the ongoing economic slowdown and recession fears, every large company has been compelled to take drastic action.

“As an almost 25-year-old company, we’re bound to go through difficult economic cycles,” wrote Pichai. “These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities.”