Google and Amazon are laying off hundreds of employees – Kommersant

On January 10, Google, owned by Alphabet, announced about the reduction of “several hundred” employees and the reorganization of a number of divisions, without providing more precise data. The company is cutting employees in its main engineering department, as well as in divisions involved in the Voice Assistant and the development of gadgets such as Pixel smartphones, Nest smart home devices and Fitbit fitness bracelets. In addition, “the majority” of the employees of the division specializing in developments in the field of augmented reality will be fired.

Google did not say exactly how many employees will be cut in different divisions or what divisional reorganizations will be carried out. In general, the cuts were explained by the desire to reduce costs, increase efficiency and concentrate on key products.

Also yesterday, another American technology corporation, Amazon, reported about laying off “several hundred” employees. She will fire employees from streaming services Twitch and Prime Video, as well as the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio, which Amazon bought in 2021. Twitch alone is laying off 500 people—35% of all service employees. An internal document sent to employees states Amazon’s intention to “reduce or eliminate investments in certain areas” and focus on products that generate the most profit.

In recent years, technology companies have been actively laying off employees in the face of declining revenues. Last January, Alphabet Corporation, which owns Google, announced about the reduction of 12 thousand employees. Amazon last year reduced about 27 thousand employees. According to service estimates layoffs.fyia total of more than 260,000 employees were laid off in the technology industry last year.

Read more about how unemployment is growing in the world in the Kommersant publication. “We worked hard and it will be”.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya