Google Lays Off 10% Managerial-Level Employees Amid Mounting Competition, Legal Battles

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced job cuts in top managerial positions, including directors and vice-presidents. The move to trim the top-level workforce by 10 per cent is aligned with the tech giant’s efforts to increase efficiency and manage costs. The step to downsize the workforce was reportedly decided in a board meeting on Wednesday. 

The move is part of Google’s broader initiative launched in 2022 to make the tech giant 20 per cent more efficient. The first big move by the Silicon Valley giant was taken in January 2023, when the company downsized its workforce significantly by cutting 12,000 jobs. 

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The measures are also part of Google’s strategy to evolve its corporate culture and make the workforce more efficient in the era driven by artificial intelligence. Addressing the changing business scenario, Pichai said the company needs to reassess “Googleyness” which is central to its corporate culture. 

Google's Many Battles

This comes at a time when Google is battling to compete with Sam Altman's Open AI, which has launched products that challenge the tech giant’s dominance, particularly in the online browsers market.  

Dealing with competition from Sam Altman’s OpenAI isn’t the only battle Sundar Pichai’s Google is battling with. The recent blow that the tech giant received in an antitrust case from a US court has added to its list of troubles. The court said that Google has illegally captured the online search space via its browser, Chrome, by making it mandatory for its users to use its services. Additionally, to offer a level playing field to other players the US government has asked Google to sell Chrome and Android or give choice by not making its browser a default search platform. The US government’s proposals pose a huge setback for Google as it controls nearly 67 per cent of the total browser market via Chrome and around 71 per cent of the mobile software market through Android. 

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In another legal battle against the European Union in the 2017 case, the tech giant was slapped with a $2.7 billion penalty for unfairly guiding users to its online shopping service. 

Earlier this week, Turkey fined the Silicon Valley giant $75 million for breaching antitrust law. The company reportedly used its dominant position in the advertising services market to favour its own supply-side platform (SSP) service.