Google's parent company, Alphabet, announced on Friday it will cut about 12,000 jobs globally, citing a changing economic reality as it became the latest US tech giant to enact large-scale restructuring, AFP reports.
"Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees quoted in the report.
"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, adding that the workforce would be reduced by around 12,000 positions. The roles we're eliminating reflect the outcome of that review," he added.
Alphabet employed nearly 187,000 workers worldwide at the end of September 2022. The cuts represent a little over 6 percent of its total workforce, according to AFP.
Pichai said American employees have already been notified about the cuts while reductions in other countries will take longer due to local labor laws.
Pichai said that the cuts would "sharpen our focus" towards new priorities, pointing to the necessity of investing even more in artificial intelligence.
"Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others," he said.
The announcement makes Google the latest large company to announce layoffs. Earlier this week, Microsoft officially announced that it would be laying off about 10,000 workers around the world that make up about five percent of its workforce.
Previously, Facebook owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter all announced layoffs. Kan 11 News reported this week that the Amazon layoffs have already affected its employees in Israel.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)