Google to Lay Off Around 12,000 Staff to "Set up for the Future"

[AleksandarK]

Google's chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai today uploaded a blog post titled "A difficult decision to set us up for the future." This message highlights the decision to lay off around 12,000 working staff from Google's fleet of employees. That includes the US and international teams represented in the figure mentioned above. While we don't have information about the specific headcount deficit per country, US employees are expected to be hit first and international employees second, as the company has to comply with local state laws in which it employs the staff. The figure represents about 6% of its total staff. Given the recent economic climate and a slight downturn in tech, Google is joining other big companies in cutting head counts to adapt to the new economy. Below you can read a piece of Google's announcement.

I have some difficult news to share. We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We've already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices. This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I'm deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.

The rest of the announcement can be read in the Google blog post.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[P4-630]

The rest of the announcement can be read in the Google blog post.

A difficult decision to set us up for the future

As an almost 25-year-old company, we’re bound to go through difficult economic cycles.

blog.google

 

[Chaitanya]

For many of these companies they were already too bloated and the niche/demand generated from lockdowns weren't going to lead to growth beyond that particular situation.

 

[64K]

Maybe Sundar Pichai will also agree to a pay cut. A quick Google of this guy shows that he made 242 million dollars in a Compensation Package for 2020.

 

[trespot]

For many of these companies they were already too bloated and the niche/demand generated from lockdowns weren't going to lead to growth beyond that particular situation.

More like keeping that profit margin always at all time high to satisfy investors. It's not like these companies couldn't afford to keep these people and still make huge profit.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I've never really understood the heavy usage of google stuff especially search
Startpage search is working out pretty good these days and my prior default I used ducky...

Would really like to see less google integrated in websites frankly it's really creepy

 

[Argyr]

Google aquired Boston Dynamics. They don't need a carbon based workforce anymore.

 

[ymdhis]

Maybe Sundar Pichai will also agree to a pay cut. A quick Google of this guy shows that he made 242 million dollars in a Compensation Package for 2020.

I suspect he will outsource the lost jobs and will in fact get a bigger compensation package because he saved so much money for the company.

 

[Markosz]

Oh no, 2022 profit margin isn't going to beat 2021 during a recession... quick let's fire 12k people for no reason!

 

[Deleted member 185088]

This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people

But we kept the talentless executives.

 

[A&P211]

More like keeping that profit margin always at all time high to satisfy investors. It's not like these companies couldn't afford to keep these people and still make huge profit.

Of course they want to satisfy shareholders, I've been a shareholder of google since IPO, I dont blame him for trying to get it as highest as possible. Companies need to make money in order to stay in business. The only thing I dont like is the CEOs compensation amount. Its way to high. When ever I get to vote for a me CEO, I dont vote for him.

 

[Easo]

So how exactly will he take that "responsibility"?
Though I gotta admit - severance packages seem to be in order. Unlike Twitter's...

 

[TheEndIsNear]

I just what's going to keep happening. In the sci fi show expanse it shows everything but a few things are automated so nobody has a job they have to live off the government. Which is really the endgame.

 

[Tropick]

Oh no, 2022 profit margin isn't going to beat 2021 during a recession... quick let's fire 12k people for no reason!

View attachment 280057

Sundar's exact thought process:

Green line going up = keep 8 bajillion dollar executive compensation package : )

Red line going down = C suite purge : (


Speculative investment demands short term gains lest we witness a mass pants-shitting from investors who don't understand that a recession means they might lose money too.

 

[mplayerMuPDF]

Hi,
I've never really understood the heavy usage of google stuff especially search
Startpage search is working out pretty good these days and my prior default I used ducky...

Would really like to see less google integrated in websites frankly it's really creepy

Time to install uBlock Origin I don't use any Google products for personal use anymore either (except for YouTube through 3rd party clients).

Hopefully 12,000 people will go work for a better company than Google.

 

[Why_Me]

'Learn to code.'

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Well, they did add Stadia to the Google dung heap. I suspect that department is probably among the headcount. Did they ever say what they were going to do with all that dedicated hosting hardware?

 

[cvaldes]

Well, they did add Stadia to the Google dung heap. I suspect that department is probably among the headcount.

I suspect that most Stadia employees were given their walking papers or reassigned to other parts of Alphabet a few months ago. Thus they would not comprise a substantial part of this wave of staff reductions.

Remember that Stadia failed because it basically didn't have enough users and showed insufficient growth. More than likely Stadia had a hiring freeze a year ago and let headcount dwindle from attrition without refilling departed positions.

They shut down their in-house content division (the game studio) about two years ago, so that was already a big chunk of headcount long gone. By summer 2022 it was probably pretty obvious to Stadia staffers that their future was bleak. Typically the smarter employees are the first to leave because they have the widest range of opportunities elsewhere. Some probably headed to Menlo Park (Meta/FB), some to Santa Clara (NVIDIA/GeForce Now), Cupertino (Apple), and Los Gatos (Netflix). And other companies elsewhere. Plenty of startups in Silicon Valley and with telework, many of them probably can get jobs regardless of where the corporate HQ pays property taxes.

Did they ever say what they were going to do with all that dedicated hosting hardware?

Google never says anything about their back-of-the-house operational hardware. Why should they? That would just clue competitors into how they did things. There is no strategic advantage to showing their cards when they fold. And this isn't Google specific. Should Microsoft say what they did with their Zune/Groove Music servers? Twitter and their Vine hardware? Yahoo and their GeoCities hardware?

Many of the capital assets assigned to Stadia are probably 75-80% depreciated by now (assuming it took a year to set up the production system). It's probably up to some senior operations executive to decide where/if these assets can be repurposed elsewhere in the company, whether it be for a front-facing purpose or possibly something internal (including classified prototype projects).

One thing is pretty much guaranteed: they're not going to spell it out in a press release.

 

[ThrashZone]

Time to install uBlock Origin I don't use any Google products for personal use anymore either (except for YouTube through 3rd party clients).

Hopefully 12,000 people will go work for a better company than Google.

Hi,
Yep already do for a long long time still though some websites are flooded with google sludge
TPU has minimal.



Probably cost google more to fire people in the eu than keep them

 

[Chaitanya]

More like keeping that profit margin always at all time high to satisfy investors. It's not like these companies couldn't afford to keep these people and still make huge profit.

Doesnt help they are going to shedding good chunk of profit margins to anti-trust lawsuits and many more of these anti-trust lawsuits are in pipeline. "Wild west" era of big Tech is fast ending and they are going to be on leash in rest of the world.

Google Faces Record $4 Billion Fine In Europe After Losing Android Antitrust Appeal

The EU’s fine against the American tech giant is the largest antitrust penalty it has handed out so far.

www.forbes.com

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I suspect that most Stadia employees were given their walking papers or reassigned to other parts of Alphabet a few months ago. Thus they would not comprise a substantial part of this wave of staff reductions.

Remember that Stadia failed because it basically didn't have enough users and showed insufficient growth. More than likely Stadia had a hiring freeze a year ago and let headcount dwindle from attrition without refilling departed positions.

They shut down their in-house content division (the game studio) about two years ago, so that was already a big chunk of headcount long gone. By summer 2022 it was probably pretty obvious to Stadia staffers that their future was bleak. Typically the smarter employees are the first to leave because they have the widest range of opportunities elsewhere. Some probably headed to Menlo Park (Meta/FB), some to Santa Clara (NVIDIA/GeForce Now), Cupertino (Apple), and Los Gatos (Netflix). And other companies elsewhere. Plenty of startups in Silicon Valley and with telework, many of them probably can get jobs regardless of where the corporate HQ pays property taxes.



Google never says anything about their back-of-the-house operational hardware. Why should they? That would just clue competitors into how they did things. There is no strategic advantage to showing their cards when they fold. And this isn't Google specific. Should Microsoft say what they did with their Zune/Groove Music servers? Twitter and their Vine hardware? Yahoo and their GeoCities hardware?

Many of the capital assets assigned to Stadia are probably 75-80% depreciated by now (assuming it took a year to set up the production system). It's probably up to some senior operations executive to decide where/if these assets can be repurposed elsewhere in the company, whether it be for a front-facing purpose or possibly something internal (including classified prototype projects).

One thing is pretty much guaranteed: they're not going to spell it out in a press release.

But they did tell us what that hardware was back when they launched the service. It was a custom Intel + Vega 56 configuration, with the intent to upgrade the hosts to faster hardware over time. One of the first warning signs was that they never upgraded this hardware:

Comment: As others beat it to the punch, what happened to Google's Stadia hardware upgrades?

Google positions hardware upgrades as an advantage of its Stadia platform, but two years in and with competition advancing, where are they?

9to5google.com

 

[cvaldes]

But they did tell us what that hardware was back when they launched the service. It was a custom Intel + Vega 56 configuration, with the intent to upgrade the hosts to faster hardware over time. One of the first warning signs was that they never upgraded this hardware:

Comment: As others beat it to the punch, what happened to Google's Stadia hardware upgrades?

Google positions hardware upgrades as an advantage of its Stadia platform, but two years in and with competition advancing, where are they?

9to5google.com

Sure, Intel and AMD likely paid Google to publicly tout their gear.

Plus, it reassured people interested in Stadia that they had "real gaming gear" behind the scenes, just like NVIDIA is now highlighting their 4080 tier for GeForce NOW.

Now that they're dismantling the Stadia racks, it's not in Intel and AMD's best interest to have attention directed to a failed project.

How enthusiastic do you think Ford is when people bring up the Pinto? (I know, I know, it's not the exact same thing...).

Anyhow, no one wants to be associated with a failed project.

 

[watzupken]

"I will take full responsibility ". I have no idea what this even means. So what's going to happen to him? I think the answer is nothing while he still gets paid like before. The promise of AI doing the work is also a mirage since we all know there are "warm bodies" that are sitting in the background helping to "train" the AI perpetually.

 

[p-o-db-o-q]

To me, it looks like all of them want to destroy everything and then rebuild it 10 times worse.

 

[64K]

"I will take full responsibility ". I have no idea what this even means. So what's going to happen to him? I think the answer is nothing while he still gets paid like before. The promise of AI doing the work is also a mirage since we all know there are "warm bodies" that are sitting in the background helping to "train" the AI perpetually.

"I will take full responsibility"

It's just PR babble talk. It means nothing unless the Board of Directors takes action against Pichai. I don't think that will happen because he's saving the company money and that makes shareholders happy. Companies only care about their employees where they are forced to unfortunately. It's all about the Almighty Dollar.