Google is cutting hundreds of jobs in technology and other sectors

Google laid off hundreds of workers across several divisions on Wednesday evening, in an effort to cut costs as it focuses on artificial intelligence and joins a wave of other companies cutting tech jobs this year.

The Silicon Valley company laid off employees in its main tech division, as well as those working on the Google Assistant, a voice-activated virtual assistant, and in the hardware division that makes the Pixel phone, Fitbit watches and Nest thermostat, three people with knowledge of the cuts.

Several hundred employees at the company’s core engineering organization lost access to the company and were notified that their roles were being eliminated, two of the people said.

“We have had to make some difficult decisions regarding the appointment of a number of Google employees and we regret to inform you that your position is being eliminated,” the company told some employees in the division, according to a text reviewed by The New York Times.

Google confirmed the Assistant cuts, previously reported by Semafor, and the hardware layoffs, previously reported by the blog 9to5Google.

“We are investing responsibly in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. Following budget cuts in the second half of 2023, “some teams are continuing to implement these types of organizational changes, including eliminating some roles globally.”

The cuts continue the trend of layoffs in the tech sector, after major companies like Google, Meta and Amazon laid off thousands of workers last year. Ten days into this year, more companies have announced job cuts. Earlier Wednesday, Amazon laid off hundreds of employees from its Twitch streaming service, Prime Video and MGM studios. Xerox said this month it would cut 15 percent of its 23,000-person workforce, and video game software provider Unity Software said it would cut 1,800 positions, or 25 percent of its workforce.

At Google, Sundar Pichai, the CEO, has been pushing the company since July 2022 to sharpen its focus and cut costs as global economic conditions worsened. In January 2023, Google lost 6 percent of its workforce, or 12,000 people, in the largest layoffs the company has ever made. Since then, executives at the company have said they would look to significantly reduce costs as it focuses on the growing field of generative artificial intelligence.

Google, which had 182,000 employees as of Sept. 30, said the layoffs Wednesday were part of a series of reorganizations that took place as part of its normal business operations.

The Alphabet Workers Union, a group representing more than 1,400 employees at Google’s parent company Alphabet, described the layoffs as “unnecessary.”

“Our members and teammates work hard every day to build great products for our users, and the company cannot continue to fire our colleagues while we make billions every quarter,” the group said in a post on social media site X.

Mike Isaac reporting contributed.