Sundar Pichai warns Google staff more layoffs are coming

After laying off over 1,000 workers across multiple divisions last week and cutting 100 jobs at YouTube, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to its staff warning more layoffs are expected this year.

Pichai’s memo said the company will have to make “tough choices” to meet its ambitious goals, as reported by The Verge.

The CEO said this year’s cuts won’t be at the scale of last year’s job cuts, where the company let go 12,000 people or 6% of its workforce.

“These role eliminations are not at the scale of last year’s reductions, and will not touch every team. But I know it’s very difficult to see colleagues and teams impacted,” he said in an email to staffers.

“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.”

Last week’s Google layoffs impacted several teams including hardware, engineering, ads, and services, with over 1,000 staffers laid off. At the time, the company also confirmed to TechCrunch that Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman were leaving the organization.

On Wednesday, Google laid off 100 YouTube staffers as part of reorganization.

“To greatest position us for these opportunities, throughout the 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,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement in response to YouTube layoffs.