Google forced to reduce its workforce.
After Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, it is the turn of Alphabet, the parent company of the internet giant, to announce, on Friday January 20, a large-scale social plan with the elimination of around 12,000 jobs in the world, i.e. 6% of its total workforce.
“Over the past two years, we have experienced periods of spectacular growth,” Alphabet boss Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees.
"To support and fuel this growth, we have hired in an economic context different from that which we know today", he added, specifying that the economic situation forced the company to reduce its workforce.
Alphabet had nearly 187,000 employees worldwide at the end of September 2022. The job cuts will be "across all departments, functions, levels of responsibility and regions", Sundar Pichai said without giving further details.
The American employees concerned have already been notified.
In other countries, the procedure will take longer depending on local labor law.
In the United States, laid-off employees will receive at least sixteen weeks of salary, their bonuses for 2022, their paid holidays as well as six months of health coverage.
Foreign employees settled in the United States will also be able to benefit from assistance in their legal procedures if they wish to remain on American soil.
Wall Street welcomed the announcement of these job cuts positively: Alphabet's stock rose 3.5% in electronic trading prior to the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Sector crisis
The American computer giant Microsoft announced on Wednesday the layoff of around 10,000 employees by the end of March.
In previous weeks, Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Amazon and Salesforce have also decided to part ways with several thousand employees.
The tech sector is facing a difficult period in the context of high inflation and rising interest rates after a good period, especially at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns.
According to the specialized site Layoffs.fyi, nearly 194,000 workers in the sector have lost their jobs in the United States since the start of 2022, not counting Alphabet's announcement on Friday.
"Tech stalwarts have been hiring at a pace that was unsustainable and the deteriorating macro environment is now forcing them to lay off," commented Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
“Midnight struck for hypergrowth as tech companies spent money like rock stars did in the 1980s,” the analyst continued.
With AFP
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