NEW YORK, Jan. 20 (BNA): Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O), the parent company of Google, has cut about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, it said Friday, as Silicon Valley pulls away from recent layoffs. workers and faces uncertain expectations.
According to Reuters, Alphabet, whose shares rose 3% in pre-market trading, is making the cuts as the US company faces a threat to its longstanding position at the helm of the technology sector.
For years, Alphabet has attracted the best talent to build Google, YouTube and other products that reach billions of users, but now it’s in competition with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) in a booming area known as generative artificial intelligence.
The cuts at Alphabet come days after Microsoft announced it would lay off 10,000 workers.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in a note that the company has reviewed its products, staffing and priorities, cutting jobs across geographies and technology. It has expanded rapidly for better times but is now facing a “different economic reality”.
“The fact that these changes will affect the lives of Google employees weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that have led us here,” Pichai said.
Alphabet’s job losses affect teams across the company including hiring and some company functions, as well as some engineering and product teams.
Layoffs are global and affect American employees immediately.
Alphabet has already emailed affected employees, the memo said, while the process will 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.
“I am confident in the tremendous opportunity ahead thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI,” said Pichai.
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