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Alphabet, Google’s parent company, plans to cut 12,000 jobs, equating to over 6% of its global workforce.
Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said he was taking “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here,” according to an email to employees that was also shared as a blog post on the company’s website Friday.
The layoffs follow 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 noted. The cuts will impact various areas, roles and regions within the company.
“These are important moments to sharpen our focus, re-engineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” Pichai added.
Alphabet
GOOG,
GOOGL,
is poised to be the latest tech firm to scale back its workforce, after Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
Twitter and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
slashed their head counts recently.
Technology companies in general participated in booming hiring during the first couple of years of the pandemic amid sharp demand for digital services. But many have admitted more recently that those inflated staffing levels didn’t match today’s economic reality.
See also: Microsoft joins Amazon, Salesforce and other major companies laying off thousands of people
In the email, Pichai said U.S. employees will be paid during the full notification period (a two-month minimum). They will also receive a severance package starting at four months’ worth of salary, with bonuses and payouts for remaining vacation time. The company will offer six months of healthcare, job placement services and immigration support.
Staffers elsewhere will be supported “in line with local practices.”
Employees have been invited to a town hall meeting on Monday to ask questions to management.
Alphabet stock was up over 2% in premarket Friday trading.
MarketWatch staff writer Emily Bary contributed to this report.
