Sundar Pichai warns Google to lay off more people as 100s terminated from YouTube in latest layoffs

Google has initiated a significant round of layoffs, affecting more than a thousand employees across various departments since January 10. In an internal memo shared with employees, CEO Sundar Pichai indicated that more cuts should be anticipated as the company aims to invest in its ambitious goals for the year.

Pichai’s message acknowledged the challenging decisions being made, emphasizing the need to create capacity for strategic investments. The recent workforce reductions and reorganizations have impacted teams involved in hardware, ad sales, search, shopping, maps, policy, core engineering, and YouTube.

While Pichai assured employees that the current layoffs are not on the scale of last year’s massive reduction of 12,000 jobs, he acknowledged the difficulty of witnessing colleagues and teams being affected. The CEO explained that the focus this year is on “removing layers to simplify execution and drive velocity in some areas.”

Despite some changes being already announced, Pichai remained transparent about ongoing resource allocation decisions, suggesting that more roles may be impacted throughout the year. The move reflects Google’s efforts to streamline operations and allocate resources strategically to meet its objectives, even as it recognizes the challenges and impact on its workforce.

Furthermore, Google is set to cut 100 employees at its renowned video platform, YouTube, marking another round of layoffs following the elimination of over 1,000 jobs in the past week from the ad team, reports The New York Times.

In an email reviewed by The New York Times, YouTube’s chief business officer, Mary Ellen Coe, informed workers from YouTube’s operations and creator management teams about the elimination of their positions. The cuts primarily impact groups providing support to the millions of content creators on the platform. As of Tuesday, YouTube had a total workforce of 7,173 people.

The decision to reduce staff comes as YouTube faces challenges in fully recovering from an advertising slowdown in the past year and contends with robust competition from TikTok, a short-video service popular among younger users.

The layoffs are part of Google’s ongoing efforts to cut costs and streamline operations. Last week, the company eliminated over 1,000 jobs from its core engineering division, Google Assistant (its voice-operated product), and certain augmented reality projects.

Mary Ellen Coe’s note to employees mentioned that individuals in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region who may be impacted would be notified by the end of the day. Andrea Faville, YouTube’s head of corporate communications, emphasized that the company is responsibly investing in its top priorities and significant opportunities while acknowledging ongoing organizational changes, including role eliminations, across various Google teams globally.

(With inputs from agencies)