Google announces layoffs of hundreds of employees in several of its teams

Google has announced the layoffs of hundreds of employees working in several of the company’s teams. The exact number of people to be laid off is still unknown, reports Reuters.

Google will cut staff working on its digital assistant. The giant will also eliminate hundreds of positions in the hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit. Almost all specialists in the augmented reality (AR) team will be laid off.

In addition, hundreds of positions in the search giant’s central engineering team are also undergoing changes.

“Throughout second-half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities. Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally,” Google explained.

Among other things, it is also known that Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman are leaving the company. Google bought Fitbit, which tracks health and activity, in 2021. The transaction value was $2.1 billion.

Last January, it became known that Google would be laying off 12 thousand employees. Among the reasons for this decision was “a different economic reality.”