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Google parent to lay off 12,000 workers

Google parent Alphabet is slashing about 12,000 jobs worldwide in the latest round of cuts to hit the tech sector.

January 21, 2023
By Jeffrey Dastin
21 January 2023

Google’s parent Alphabet is eliminating about 12,000 jobs, or six per cent of its workforce, in the latest cuts to shake the technology sector.

Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, said in a staff memo shared with Reuters that the company had rapidly expanded headcount in recent years “for a different economic reality than the one we face today”.

“I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here,” he said on Friday.

The cuts come days after rival Microsoft Corp said it would lay off 10,000 workers.

Alphabet’s job losses affect teams across the company including recruiting and some corporate functions, as well as some engineering and products teams.

The lay-offs are global and affect US staff immediately.

Alphabet has already emailed affected employees, the memo said, while the process would take longer in other countries due to local employment laws and practices.

The news comes during a period of economic uncertainty as well as technological promise, in which Google and Microsoft have been investing in a burgeoning area of software known as generative artificial intelligence.

“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,” Pichai said in the note.

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