Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Major or minor, the tech and games industry is caught up in a huge wave of layoffs and job cuts to start 2023, and it looks like Google is the latest to join the bunch. Google just announced that it was cutting around 12,000 jobs at the company. This follows on the back of many other company firings that have taken place during this year and the end of last year.
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai shared details about the layoffs via an email that was shared publicly by the company on January 20, 2023. According to the announcement, Google is eliminating an estimated 12,000 positions. The reason given was that the company faced a unique and dramatic level of growth in previous years, but “hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
Pichai goes on to take responsibility for the layoffs, claiming some of the blame falls with the leadership of Google for not doing better:
The email goes on to share details of the benefits that will be granted to employees affected by the layoffs. Those employees cut will be paid for 60 days during the notification period, as well as being granted bonuses, vacation pay, severance packages, health care, and job placement services following exits from the company.
Google is hardly the first group to be doing this in early 2023. Amazon arguably began the trend in teasing its own mass firing in late 2022. Microsoft and Riot Games also announced their own rounds of layoffs. As we continue to watch the situation, stay tuned for more updates and further stories from the industry as layoffs continue this year.