The technology company Google has confirmed the dismissal of hundreds of employees from various teams, including James Park and Eric Friedman, co-founders of the fitness tracker and bracelet company Fitbit. The decision is part of the cost reduction strategy of the multinational and its parent company Alphabet, which in September had 182,381 employees around the world.
The company has detailed that it will let go of hundreds of workers from the voice assistant unit, the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit, the core engineering team, as well as most of the employees who are part of the development team. augmented reality (AR). Regarding the cut at Fitbit, Google bought the company in 2021 for $2.1 billion. Despite this, it has continued to launch new versions of its Pixel Watch, a product that competes with some of Fitbit’s devices.
“Throughout the second half of 2023, several of our teams made changes to be more efficient and work better, and to align their resources with their highest product priorities. Some teams are still making these types of organizational changes, including some eliminations of roles globally,” a Google spokesperson told Reuters. However, the spokesperson did not specify the number of positions affected.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Alphabet Workers Union has called the job cuts “another round of unnecessary layoffs.” And he has criticized that the company has made this decision “while earning billions every quarter.”
The reorganization of certain teams comes at a time when companies such as Microsoft and Google are betting on the growing adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology following the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Last year, Google announced plans to add generative AI capabilities to its virtual assistant. AI would allow the assistant to do things like help people plan a trip or catch up on emails and then ask follow-up questions.
A year ago, Alphabet announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs, equivalent to 6% of its global workforce. However, it is not the only technology company announcing layoffs. Last year, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, cut more than 20,000 jobs, Spotify began its third round of layoffs of the year in December, reducing 17% of its workforce, and Amazon laid off hundreds of employees in its studio and Prime Video units. For its part, the live streaming platform Twitch has announced that it will lay off half a thousand employees.