Google’s parent company, Alphabet, faced significant restructuring in January 2023, with plans to cut 12,000 jobs, marking the largest layoff in Google’s history. The company incurred $2.1 billion (approximately ₹17,500 crore) in severance expenses during this period, affecting over 12,000 employees. Additional layoffs in the same month resulted in an extra $700 million in severance charges for over 1,000 roles.
Alphabet disclosed these figures in its fourth-quarter earnings release, where it also reported double-digit revenue growth, primarily driven by Google’s search and online advertising dominance. Despite the positive results, Alphabet’s shares experienced a nearly 7% dip in extended trading.
The company attributed its profit boost in the final quarter to the positive impact of artificial intelligence (AI). CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the benefits of AI investments and innovation in various areas, including cloud computing and YouTube subscriptions.
Pichai informed employees of upcoming job cuts aimed at streamlining operations for enhanced efficiency. In a memo, he emphasized that these role eliminations would not be on the scale of the previous year’s reductions and would not impact every team. The move aims to “simplify execution” and adapt to evolving business needs.
