The tech industry is facing an uphill battle as rising interest rates and inflation over the past year have taken a toll on technology shares and forced advertisers to reduce their online ad spending. These challenges force companies to adapt and make difficult decisions to stay competitive in the market.
The tech industry was hit with another round of layoffs as Google announced on Friday that it will be cutting 12,000 jobs from its workforce. This news comes as many major U.S. tech companies are also making similar cuts, leading to fears of an impending recession.
According to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, the layoffs will begin immediately in the U.S. However, he added that the process in other countries will take longer due to local laws and practices. This move was not unexpected as there were reports in November that Google employees were bracing for layoffs as the company’s performance rating system underwent changes and other tech giants announced similar job cuts.
Google announcement of layoffs on Friday adds to the growing number of job cuts in the tech industry. This move comes after a report from CNBC on Thursday stated that the company was deferring a portion of employees’ year-end bonus checks until March or April instead of paying them in full in January. These actions suggest that even one of the biggest tech companies in the world is not immune to the financial challenges facing the industry. It will be interesting to see how this move and other similar ones from other tech companies will impact the industry in the long term.