Google & Microsoft each laying off over 10,000 employees

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in General Discussion
The high-volume layoffs from big tech companies are still going, with Microsoft laying off 10,000, and Google axing 12,000 employees over the coming weeks.

Google and Microsoft lay off employees after covid hiring surge
Google and Microsoft lay off employees after covid hiring surge


After a surge in hiring during the pandemic, many companies in the tech sector are laying off employees in droves to counterbalance a slowing economy. Even Apple has announced a hiring slowdown as a result, though other companies are taking more drastic measures.

Google and Microsoft have shared that they intend to lay off 12,000 and 10,000 employees, respectively. The companies blame inflation and a return to normal conditions post-covid.

For Microsoft, this represents about 5% of the company's total workforce, according to a CNN report. The company will incur a $1.2 billion charge in its second quarter related to severance costs, lease consolidation, and hardware portfolio changes.

"We're living through times of significant change, and as I meet with customers and partners, a few things are clear," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote. "First, as we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we're now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less."

Google's reduction represents about 6% of its total workforce, according to a report from USA Today. Jobs being eliminated are being cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels, and regions, according to a statement.

"This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I'm deeply sorry for that," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."

These layoffs add to the growing list of other companies letting people go in droves. Amazon will lay off 18,000 people by the time it is done. Facebook expects a first round of 11,000 job cuts, and more are expected.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Wait, what? I thought they were syphoning off all those disgruntled Apple employees who were quitting because Tim Cook ordered them to come back to work in person. At least that’s what all those articles were telling us a few months ago, right? So who are those former Apple employees working for from home now as the tech sector shrinks? 💩
    edited January 2023 JaiOh81Bart Ywatto_cobraravnorodom
  • Reply 2 of 23
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    ""This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I'm deeply sorry for that," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”"

    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    edited January 2023 DAalsethmuthuk_vanalingamJaiOh81mikethemartiantechriderwatto_cobraravnorodom
  • Reply 3 of 23
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    lkrupp said:
    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    True that. It’s always about the bottom line. In big companies the employees are just interchangeable parts, no more important than pawns in their chess game.
    JaiOh81watto_cobraravnorodom
  • Reply 4 of 23
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,667member
    lkrupp said:
    ""This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I'm deeply sorry for that," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”"

    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    I agree with you on this. There are times when it's better just not to say certain things if no sooner do they reach print they sound empty and worthless. 

    The reductions may be justified but the wording in the quote is likely to cause irritation. 
    muthuk_vanalingamJaiOh81baconstangBart Y
  • Reply 5 of 23
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,284member
    DAalseth said:
    lkrupp said:
    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    True that. It’s always about the bottom line. In big companies the employees are just interchangeable parts, no more important than pawns in their chess game.

    As it should be.
    williamlondonbaconstangravnorodom
  • Reply 6 of 23
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,667member
    mike1 said:
    DAalseth said:
    lkrupp said:
    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    True that. It’s always about the bottom line. In big companies the employees are just interchangeable parts, no more important than pawns in their chess game.

    As it should be.
    Not all the time. I've worked with a company (one of the largest in its field in Europe) that could have easily justified layoffs during the economic downturn. 

    The problem was that in some areas where they had factories, workers were the only members of families with jobs. Laying them off would have caused severe harm to the local communities so they kept them on. 

    Shareholders agreed with the policy. 
    muthuk_vanalingamtechriderravnorodomkimberly
  • Reply 7 of 23
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    mike1 said:
    DAalseth said:
    lkrupp said:
    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    True that. It’s always about the bottom line. In big companies the employees are just interchangeable parts, no more important than pawns in their chess game.

    As it should be.
    That’s one of the more pathological posts I’ve read here. 
    muthuk_vanalingamJaiOh81williamlondongrandact73StrangeDaystechrider
  • Reply 8 of 23
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,320member
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=888DJKMT8bw
    williamlondon
  • Reply 9 of 23
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,250member
    Don’t blame the companies, blame the idiots who drove our economy into the ground. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 10 of 23
    jimh2jimh2 Posts: 615member
    Wall Street is equally guilty as they are worried about quarter to quarter and longer term like year to year. Bad quarter without layoffs in your stock is tanked. 
    baconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 23
    wonkothesanewonkothesane Posts: 1,723member
    Translation:

    "This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people (as Jack Welsh would have said: Give me the lemons) we worked hard to hire and have loved working with (what can we say - treat we were made a mistake and are happy to formally have a pretext to fire them?) . I'm deeply sorry for that," (so happy) Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me ( the weight of money - bonus, here I come), and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here." (I don‘t know what ist means, but I read it on the back of a machtlos and it sounded good)
    watto_cobramuthuk_vanalingamravnorodom
  • Reply 12 of 23
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,849member
    lkrupp said:
    ""This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with. I'm deeply sorry for that," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”"

    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    Those who show up at work more than likely will stay those working in some remote location, offsite out of sight out of mind, who do you think is going to have a better chance of remaining?
    williamlondonwatto_cobraravnorodom
  • Reply 13 of 23
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    hexclock said:
    Don’t blame the companies, blame the idiots who drove our economy into the ground. 
    These companies seem to be doing ok with around $70b net income:

    https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GOOGL/alphabet/net-income
    https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/net-income

    10,000 employees x $100,000 = $1b

    This is why there needs to be work reform. These employees all help make the gains, which they don't get to share and at the slightest downturn they are let go with meaningless platitudes.

    Companies didn't fool anyone when they raised prices while posting record profits, they're not fooling anyone now, this is corporate greed plain and simple. The billionaires love to remind everyone how much they care and how they are making the world a better place but if they see anything other than growth in their excess wealth, some of the poor people will have to be sacrificed.
    StrangeDaysgatorguywilliamlondontechriderwatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingamravnorodom
  • Reply 14 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    mike1 said:
    DAalseth said:
    lkrupp said:
    Because profit comes before people in the end but I need to spew some platitudes to make it sound better. And this goes for all corporations, including Apple.
    True that. It’s always about the bottom line. In big companies the employees are just interchangeable parts, no more important than pawns in their chess game.

    As it should be.
    Spoken by a guy who thinks he might someday be a rich CEO but in reality won’t.
    edited January 2023 williamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    hexclock said:
    Don’t blame the companies, blame the idiots who drove our economy into the ground. 

  • Reply 16 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    “I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."

    Cool story we often hear from CEOs, but…how will they take full responsibility? Specifically? Do they bonus? Lose stock? Does their own compensation go into severance funds? Anything? Or just empty platitudes?
    williamlondontechriderwatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingamravnorodomwonkothesane
  • Reply 17 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    “I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."

    Cool story we often hear from CEOs, but…how will they take full responsibility? Specifically? Do they bonus? Lose stock? Does their own compensation go into severance funds? Anything? Or just empty platitudes?
    Laid-off US employees will receive a severance package starting at 16 weeks' salary plus two weeks for every additional year at Google, as well as six months of health care, job placement services, and immigration support where needed.  All 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time will also be paid.

    Does that warrant a "Kudos to Google for doing the right thing" from you? 
    edited January 2023
  • Reply 18 of 23
    TenApplesUpOnTopTenApplesUpOnTop Posts: 54member
    If these companies can get rid of 10,000 employees with seemingly no impact to productivity, seems like they had 10,000 employees too many.
    watto_cobradanoxwilliamlondon
  • Reply 19 of 23
    Tech607Tech607 Posts: 14member
    The reductions are not really justified. they can lose some money and still be overly profitable. Layoffs only artificially make the bottom line look better. 
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobradanox
  • Reply 20 of 23
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,063member
    Funny how the layoffpalooza started right after the FTC announced making non-compete contracts void.
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