Google cuts at least 200 employees from its developer teams in latest round of layoffs

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Google LLC has axed at least 200 employees from various product development teams in another major round of layoffs.

Although the company didn’t provide any specific number, CNBC reported today that a number of the layoffs were from Google’s “Core” teams, which are involved in the development of various flagship products, including some responsible for protecting users’ online safety. The reported layoffs affect key technical units including the Flutter, Dart and Python developer teams, technical infrastructure, security foundation, app platforms and various engineering roles.

CNBC added that the reorganization would see some roles relocated from the U.S. to areas such as Germany, India and Mexico.

Last month, Google filed a WARN notice with authorities in California, indicating its plans to cut 50 jobs there.

In a statement to TechCrunch, Google said the company is “responsibly investing in our company’s bigger priorities and the significant opportunities ahead. To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers and align their resources to their biggest product priorities.”

Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. announced early in 2023 that it planned to eliminate about 12,000 jobs, or roughly 6% of its workforce, in the wake of a downturn in the online advertising market that hurt its revenue. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai (pictured) reiterated the plan to continue cutting jobs in January, and even though ad market has rebounded, the company has followed through with a series of layoffs this year.

In January for instance, it laid off 702 workers across various departments in the San Francisco Bay Area. It also cut more than 100 jobs from its YouTube division, while last month, Google’s chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, revealed that a number of positions within the company’s financial department were also being axed, with some roles being moved to Bangalore and Mexico City. In March, Google’s search boss Prabhakar Raghavan said in a meeting with employees that the company aims to build teams closer to its users in key markets, including India and Brazil, where wages are lower than in the U.S.

The cuts come in the wake of an earnings report by Alphabet that saw the company deliver its fastest growth rate since early 2022, alongside improved profitability. Besides a 15% jump in revenue, the company announced it intends to payout its first-ever dividend to shareholders, and repurchase an additional $70 billion worth of shares.

The teams involved in the latest round of layoffs were working on some of Google’s most important developer tools, and come at a time when the company is working to streamline application development through the integration of Gemini artificial intelligence into many of its products.

Google’s decision to cut yet more jobs doesn’t come as a surprise considering the layoffs earlier this year, said Charles King of Pund-IT Inc. He noted that basically every big technology company, including Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others, has been looking to cut costs to improve profitability in recent months. “Most have achieved that by drastically reducing headcount following years of aggressive hiring,” King said. “But compared to other $1 trillion-plus companies, Google has been a bit of a laggard both in terms of layoffs and profitability increases during this time, but it’s now making up for that quite quickly.”

While Google has reassigned some of its teams to new locations, there has been speculation that certain tasks once performed by humans might instead be handed over to its AI tools, some which are designed to reduce manual developer work.  King said it’s impossible to say if this is the case without the perspective of a Google insider. “That said, tools like Codey and Gemini Code Assist do make some software roles redundant, and I expect the company is using such tools to capture similar benefits,” he said.

Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said the latest job cuts are relatively minor for a company the size of Google, but they indicate to investors and customers that it’s heading in the right direction. “While it’s always unfortunate for the affected individuals, it shows that Google is working on becoming more efficient, evaluating its priorities and doubling down where it matters,” he said.

Some employees affected by the latest job cuts shared their experiences on social media, and seem to believe that the layoffs will have a broad impact on the company.

“We’re sad, but still cranking hard on I/O and beyond,” Kevin Moore, a project manager with Google, wrote in the Flutter development community on Reddit. “We know y’all care SO MUCH about the project and the team and the awesome ecosystem we’ve built together. You’re nervous. I get it. We get it. You’re betting on Flutter and Dart. So am I. So is Google.”

Flutter is a project that streamlines mobile and web application development using the Dart programming language.

Thomas Wouters, who is a part of the Python Steering Council, announced the layoffs on social media last week, saying that one Bay Area teams was being replaced by another based in Munich.

“It’s a tough day when everyone you work with directly, including your manager, is laid off — excuse me, ‘had their roles reduced’, and you’re asked to onboard their replacements, people told to take those very same roles just in a different country who are not any happier about it,” Wouters wrote on Mastodon.

Google said employees affected by the latest round of layoffs are free to apply for alternative open positions within the company.

Later this month, Google will hold its annual developer conference, Google I/O, which is a key event on its calendar where it traditionally announces new developer products and tools it has been working on over the prior year.

Photo: Nargis John/Flickr