Posted by Alphabet (GOOGL) has become the latest big tech company to slash jobs because business conditions have slowed after the COVID-19 pandemic boom.
CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an email to employees that the parent of Google and YouTube would be eliminating 12,000 jobs, or more than 6% of its workforce, calling it “difficult news to share.”
Pichai explained that over the past two years Alphabet saw “periods of dramatic growth,” and to match and fuel that growth, “we hired for a different economic reality than we face today.” He added that he takes full responsibility for “the decisions that led us here.”
Pichai said he’s confident about the huge opportunity the company has ahead, but “to fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices.” He indicated Alphabet has undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure staffing is aligned with the firm’s highest priorities. He noted the layoffs announced today reflect the outcome of that review.
Pichai said the job cuts will impact workers worldwide, and cut across Alphabet product areas, functions, levels, and regions.
Tech Layoffs
The move follows similar large reductions of employees at Twitter, Meta Platforms (META), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT) after their customers’ tech spending declined from pandemic highs.
Alphabet shares are up 4% today, although they’ve lost more than a quarter of their value in the past 12 months.
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