Google axes 12,000 jobs in latest tech cuts
Following Microsoft just days earlier, Google has laid off 6% of its workforce
Google has laid off approximately 12,000 employees worldwide in the latest round of sweeping tech giant job cuts.
As Bloomberg reports, CEO Sundar Pichai announced the job cuts in an internal email, saying he “takes full responsibility for the decision that led us here”.
Google is the latest tech company to announce significant layoffs in the face of rising inflation and a global economic slowdown. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced it had axed 10,000 jobs, or around 5% of its total workforce, and Meta announced 11,000 lay-offs last year as CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company’s growth during the pandemic couldn’t be sustained.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Google job cuts
😔 Google will lay off 12,000 employees
📉 It’s the latest major tech giant to announce significant job cuts
😩 It follows Microsoft, Meta and Twitter
🤖 Google’s CEO suggested the company will strengthen investments in AI
Twitter also axed almost 50% of its workforce after Elon Musk took over the platform last year, Amazon revealed plans to cut 18,000 jobs, about 6% of its workforce, and software company Salesforce said it would axe 8,000 positions at the beginning of the month.
“These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” wrote Pichai in the email. He went on to say the company has a “substantial opportunity in front of us” with artificial intelligence.
AI has been in the news lately with the revelation that tech news site CNET was surreptitiously using artificial intelligence to create financial explainer articles, much to the chagrin of readers and writers. It didn’t help that the AI struggled to do basic math, leading CNET to issue several major corrections while defending its use of the engine.
Last year Google announced several cost-cutting moves, including the cancelation of the next generation of Pixelbook laptops and the termination of Google Stadia. The ill-fated cloud streaming service struggled to get off the ground, but to Google’s credit, it promised to issue refunds to all Stadia buyers and has rolled out a new update to let the Stadia controller live on as a handy Bluetooth gamepad. Here’s how you can switch your Stadia controller to Bluetooth mode.