Google CEO tells workers to prepare for ax to fall again this year

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has a message for those who survived 2023’s massive layoffs: Get ready for more.

According to a Wednesday report in The Verge, Mr. Pichai reached out to employees in a memo this week to confirm that more firings are coming.

“We have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year. The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices,” the memo read.

Mr. Pichai said the layoffs are an attempt to simplify and streamline activities at Google and to “drive velocity” in some departments. He didn’t say which units would be hit hardest or when the pink slips would come.

In his memo, Mr. Pichai did confirm the firings won’t be as intense as last year when Google sacked over 12,000 employees.

“Many of these changes are already announced, though to be upfront, some teams will continue to make specific resource allocation decisions throughout the year where needed, and some roles may be impacted,” he said.

The announcement could signal another year of heavy layoffs in the tech industry. In 2023, nearly 200,000 workers were fired at giants like Google, Amazon and X.