Google continues to lay off employees

A Google spokesperson confirmed that the company cut hundreds of jobs on January 10. The goal is to continue to improve efficiency and focus on the biggest priorities for its core products. The layoffs will affect employees in Google's core engineering and hardware teams such as Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit, as well as employees in the Google Assistant virtual assistant division, among other parts of the company.

Google cuts hundreds of jobs in engineering and hardware teams. (Source: CNN)

The move marks the latest cost-cutting effort by Google to curb a dramatic increase in hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last January, Google cut its workforce by 12,000 people, or about 6% of its full-time workforce. The company made other cuts to its recruiting and news divisions later in the year.

Currently, Google has also shifted its focus to prioritizing the development of areas such as artificial intelligence, launching products such as the Bard chatbot to compete with rivals such as Microsoft, Baidu, and Amazon.

“To best position us to capitalize on new opportunities, several of our teams made changes throughout the second half of 2023 to become more efficient and effective, and realign their resources around key product priorities,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC in a new interview.

Alphabet’s union immediately expressed disappointment in the latest round of layoffs at Google in a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) late on January 10, calling them “unnecessary.” “ Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, so the company cannot continue to lay off our colleagues while making billions of dollars each quarter,” the group wrote in a post. “We will not stop fighting until our jobs are safe.”

Google isn’t the only tech company cutting back. Facebook parent Meta has cut more than 20,000 jobs over the past year to reassure investors. Its stock has risen about 178% in 2023. Earlier this week, Amazon laid off hundreds of employees at its Prime Video and studio units, and it will also lay off about 500 employees at its Twitch livestreaming platform.

HUYNH DUNG (Source: CNBC/Cbsnews)

Source