Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Google announced Friday that it plans to lay off 12,000 employees in the latest move to downsize by a tech company as the industry struggles through a changing economic landscape and heightened scrutiny.
Google and parent company Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement they have already reached out to workers in the United States affected by the news.
"This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with," Pichai said. "I'm deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."
Pichai blamed the "different economic reality" that exists for tech companies today over the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said Google faces great potential with the emergence of artificial intelligence, but it means the company has to make sacrifices today to reach its potential.
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"To fully capture it, we'll need to make tough choices," Pichai said. "So, we've undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company.
"The roles we're eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions."
Earlier this month, the Google company Verily Life Sciences said it will restructure, starting with the layoff of 15% of its staff, or about 240 people. Verily offered data-driven, individually tailored healthcare products to users.
This week, software giant Microsoft said it plans to lay off 10,000 workers by the end of the third quarter. E-commerce leader Amazon said it was slashing 18,000 jobs.
Social media management platform Hootsuite said on Wednesday it was laying off 70 people, accounting for 7% of its workforce. In November, Facebook's parent company Meta said it was laying off 11,000 employees.
