The technology company Alphabet, owner of Google, announced this Friday that it will lay off 12,000 people, about 6.4% of its workforce, after registering years of “spectacular” growth in the face of a “different economic reality” like the current one.
In a statement cited by Efe, the executive president of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, has announced that he has already sent an email to the company’s workers in the European Union affected by the measure.
In other countries, this communication process is expected to take longer, as adaptations will have to be made to local laws and practices.
The layoffs come after a “rigorous review” across all product areas and are aimed at realigning the company’s costs and directing talent and capital to other priorities.
The company also said that it will compensate its employees in accordance with the labor laws of each country. Alphabet said it is preparing to launch new experiences for users, creators and businesses, highlighting artificial intelligence as a huge opportunity for its products.
At the end of September 2022, Google had 186,779 workers, 36,000 more than in the same month of the previous year (150,028).
The decision comes at a time when other tech giants announced the layoff of thousands of people.
This week, Microsoft announced the reduction of 10,000 workers, close to 5% of its total, and Amazon began the process of laying off 18,000 people.
In 2022, the big technology companies laid off more than 150,000 employees worldwide, highlighting Twitter or Meta (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp).
Source: TSF
