Google to lay off 12,000 employees or 6% workforce worldwide

Pichai said that the cuts were in response to a changing "economic reality" and that the hires had been made during "periods of dramatic growth."

New Delhi, Jan 20: Google parent Alphabet on Friday announced that it is planning to cut roughly 12,000 jobs or 6 per cent workforce worldwide, Bloomberg reported. The layoffs come after similar job cuts at other tech giants, including Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter.

What did Google say about the layoffs?

"We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Pichai said that the cuts were in response to a changing "economic reality" and that the hires had been made during "periods of dramatic growth."

"We've undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company," Pichai said. "The roles we're eliminating reflect the outcome of that review."

"The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here," he added.

Pichai said that the layoffs "cut across" product areas, functions, levels and regions.

Layoffs across tech industry

Google is not the only tech giant to have seen major layoffs in recent months.

Microsoft fired 10,000 workers or almost five per cent of its total workforce, the company announced on Wednesday.

It took the decision to cut jobs to align its cost structure with revenue and customer demand. "Today, we are making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs" through the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2023. This represents less than 5 per cent of our total employee base. We know this is a challenging time for each person impacted," Microsoft's Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella said.

Amazon would make 18,000 layoffs, and Facebook owner Meta announced in November that it would be cutting 11,000 positions, or around 13% of its workforce.

Twitter saw massive layoff after Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, took over the social media giant.