Google layoffs: Sundar Pichai Announces 10% Reduction in Executive Positions

Google has slashed 10% of its managerial jobs, including directors and vice presidents. CEO Sundar Pichai announced the decision during an all-hands meeting, emphasizing the company's continued efforts to streamline operations in the face of growing competition from AI-focused rivals such as OpenAI, which are challenging Google's search dominance, according to reports.

The current round of layoffs, announced on Wednesday, is part of a larger reorganization effort that has been underway for the previous two years. While some affected managers were transferred to individual contributor roles, numerous positions were terminated.

The company's cost-cutting effort began in 2022, when Pichai set a target of making Google 20% more efficient. Last year, the restructure resulted in the layoff of over 12,000 people, representing a huge downsize for one of the world's leading technology companies.

Redefining 'Googleyness'

At the same conference, Pichai presented a modified vision for 'Googleyness', a phrase that originally broadly outlined the characteristics of an ideal Google employee but had become too ambiguous. Pichai rebuilt it with a stronger emphasis on mission-driven work, innovation, and collaboration.

He emphasized the significance of developing useful goods, taking calculated risks, cultivating a scrappy mindset, and cooperating effectively. "Updating modern Google," as Pichai put it, is now vital to the company's mission.

Job cutbacks and reorganization trends

Google's action mirrors a bigger trend in the technology industry. With rapid breakthroughs in AI and economic challenges, tech titans are laying off employees and downsizing middle management to empower individual contributors.

The scale of layoffs in the sector is astonishing. According to Layoffs.fyi, nearly 98,000 employees from 333 IT companies were laid off in just the first half of 2024. In May alone, 39 companies laid off over 10,000 employees.

Other technological giants follow suit

Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and TikTok have all undergone dramatic restructuring. Following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft reportedly fired off around 1,000 employees across multiple areas, including Azure cloud and gaming. The gaming division alone experienced 1,900 layoffs.

Amazon also reduced its personnel in various units, including Audible, Prime Video, and Twitch, which lost 35% of its staff, or approximately 500 employees.

TikTok downsized its global employment by approximately 1,000 personnel, including operations and marketing teams facing regulatory problems. Meta made smaller cuts in its Reality Lab section, which works on metaverse and AR/VR projects.

Meanwhile, corporations such as Toshiba and Indeed have made major cutbacks. Toshiba indicated intentions to lose 4,000 domestic employment, while Indeed let away 8% of its personnel during its second round of layoffs in May.