Google to lay off 12,000 people, memo from CEO Sundar Pichai says

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Google announced Friday it would lay off 12,000 people from its workforce, joining many major U.S. tech companies cutting jobs amid looming recession fears.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said in an email sent to staff at the company on Friday that the company will begin layoffs in the US immediately. In other countries, “local laws and practices take longer to process,” he said. CNBC reported in November that Google employees feared layoffs.

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Google, the web search and video sharing giant, will provide U.S.-based employees with 16 weeks of severance pay, plus two weeks of salary for each year they work at Google, Pichai added.

The news sent Google’s stock up more than 5% in early trading.

Technology companies face many challenges today. Rising interest rates and inflation, especially over the past year, have sent tech stocks crashing, forcing advertisers to cut back on online ad spending.

Demand for U.S. tech stocks has surged, especially after interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The depressing macroeconomic conditions are putting pressure on these companies to drastically cut their workforces.

On Wednesday, Amazon launched a new wave of job cuts affecting more than 18,000 people. On the same day, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 10,000 of her employees.

Twitter, led by Elon Musk, has also cut jobs, cutting more than half of the company’s workforce since he took over as CEO in October.

Friday’s layoff move from Google comes after CNBC reported Thursday that the company delayed some of its employees’ year-end bonus checks until March or April, rather than paying them in full in January. was broken

Read the full memo Pichai sent to staff on Friday:

Google employees,

I have hard news to share. We have decided to reduce our workforce by about 12,000. We have already sent another email to affected US employees. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.

This means we are saying goodbye to the incredibly talented people we have worked so hard to employ and have loved working with. The fact that these changes affect the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me and I take full responsibility for the decisions that have brought us here.

Over the past two years, we have seen a period of dramatic growth. To keep pace with that growth, we have adapted for economic realities that differ from those we are currently facing.

We believe there is a great opportunity ahead of us because of the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI. To fully capture it, you have to make a difficult choice. That’s why we undertook a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our top corporate priorities. The roles you remove reflect the results of that review. Across alphabets, product areas, features, levels and geographies.

Retiring Googlers: Thank you for all you do to help people and businesses around the world. Your contributions are invaluable and we appreciate them.

This transition won’t be easy, but it will support employees looking for their next opportunity.

In the United States:

• Pay employees during the notice period (minimum 60 days).
• We also offer a severance package of 2 weeks each year at Google in addition to 16 weeks of salary, accelerating your GSU vesting by at least 16 weeks.
• I will pay my bonus for 2022 and my remaining paid vacation.
• For those affected, we will provide six months of health care, employment services and immigration support.
• Outside the United States, we support our employees in line with local practices.

As a company nearly 25 years old, we are going through a difficult economic cycle. These are critical times to increase focus, rebuild our cost base, and direct people and capital to our top priorities.

Constraints in some areas allow you to bet big in others. Our AI-first transformation of the company a few years ago was a breakthrough for our business and the industry at large.

Thanks to these early investments, Google’s products are better than ever. We are also preparing to share an all-new experience for users, developers, and businesses. We have a huge opportunity in front of us to use AI across our products, and we are ready to tackle it boldly and responsibly.

All this work is a continuation of the healthy ignorance of the impossible that has been central to our culture from the beginning. If you look around Google today, you can see that same spirit and energy driving what we do. That’s why I remain optimistic about our ability to fulfill our mission, even in the most difficult days. Today is certainly one of them.

I think there are many questions about how we move forward. We will have a Town Hall on Monday. Check the calendar for details. Until then, take great care as you absorb this difficult news. As part of this, if you have just started working, feel free to start working from home today.

-thunder