- tech360.tv
Google's Massive Layoffs: Streamlining Operations to Cut Costs Impacting AR Team
In a move to streamline operations and cut costs, Google has announced significant layoffs affecting its hardware, voice assistant, and engineering teams.
The company stated that these measures are part of its commitment to responsibly invest in its key priorities and future opportunities.
According to Google, these organisational changes involve role eliminations on a global scale. The majority of the impact is expected to be felt by the augmented reality hardware team. This decision comes as Google's parent company, Alphabet, and its executives have pledged to reduce expenses.
The Alphabet Workers Union, in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), criticised the job cuts as "another round of needless layoffs." The union expressed concern over the company's continuous firing of employees while generating billions in revenue each quarter. They vowed to continue fighting until job security is ensured for all workers.
Google is not the only technology giant implementing cost-cutting measures. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has already slashed over 20,000 jobs in the past year to reassure investors. Meanwhile, Spotify announced in December that it would be reducing its global workforce by 17% as part of its ongoing efforts to improve profitability.
Amazon, too, has recently laid off hundreds of employees in its Prime Video and studios units. Additionally, around 500 employees working on the livestreaming platform Twitch will be affected by upcoming layoffs. Amazon has been downsizing its workforce after a significant hiring surge during the pandemic. In March, the company announced plans to lay off 9,000 employees, in addition to the 18,000 layoffs announced in January 2023.
The competition in the artificial intelligence domain is heating up, with Google and Microsoft vying for dominance. Microsoft has been ramping up its AI offerings to rival Google's capabilities. In September, the company introduced a Copilot feature that incorporates artificial intelligence into products like the Bing search engine, the Edge browser, and Windows for corporate customers.
Google has laid off hundreds of employees in its hardware, voice assistant, and engineering teams as part of cost-cutting measures.
The job cuts are aimed at responsibly investing in the company's key priorities and future opportunities.
The Alphabet Workers Union has criticised the layoffs as unnecessary and vowed to fight for job security.
Source: AP NEWS