SAN FRANCISCO— The wave of layoffs that swept through Silicon Valley in the last two years is not over.
Google acknowledged on Wednesday that it had laid off hundreds of engineering and hardware employees to reduce expenses and refocus on artificial intelligence. The same day, Amazon announced job cuts at its Prime Video and MGM Studios entertainment operations. Twitch, an Amazon-owned video game broadcasting firm, recently announced the layoff of 500 employees.
The cuts at two of the sector’s largest and most successful companies demonstrate that the IT industry is still ongoing with the waves of layoffs that began in 2022. Following a massive hiring spree in the early years of the pandemic, start-ups and Big Tech firms have been firing tens of thousands of employees as higher interest rates make it more expensive to invest in new projects, and companies seek to increase profitability rather than growth.
Big Tech Not Done With Layoffs As Google, Amazon Announce Cuts In 2024
The cuts at Google were part of a larger round of layoffs that affected teams such as its Waze navigation program, new employee recruiting, and Google News.
“Throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams implemented adjustments to improve efficiency and productivity, as well as to align their resources with their top product goals. Some teams are still implementing these types of organizational changes,” said Chris Pappas, a Google spokeswoman. “We’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead.”
The company’s hardware sector was rocked by cutbacks on Wednesday, which included reorganising teams working on Fitbit, Nest home devices, and Pixel smartphones.
Google has spent billions of dollars over the years developing hardware to compete with Apple in the smartphone and wristwatch sectors and Amazon in-home gadgets, but the division still needs to grow in comparison to its core advertising and search operations.
The layoffs announced by Amazon and Google this week pale compared to the hundreds of employees laid off in 2022 and 2023. Amazon announced that it would lay off around 27,000 employees starting at the end of 2022 and continuing through 2023.
Big Tech Not Done With Layoffs As Google, Amazon Announce Cuts In 2024
Google terminated 12,000 jobs in January 2023, accounting for around 6% of the workforce. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, announced it would lose 11,000 jobs by the end of 2022, accounting for 13% of its workforce.
The layoffs shocked Silicon Valley, ending when IT workers believed they could move from one high-paying job to another every few years. Start-up financing has also declined. The gloom has only been alleviated by the artificial intelligence revolution, with investors pouring money into AI start-ups and Big Tech companies postponing some of their spending cuts to buy more computer chips and hire AI researchers to capitalize on consumer interest in the new technology.
Big Tech Not Done With Layoffs As Google, Amazon Announce Cuts In 2024
“Our industry is rapidly evolving, and it is critical that we prioritize our investments for our company’s long-term success,” Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, wrote in a message to workers on Wednesday.
SOURCE – (WP)
