What you need to know
- Google has laid off hundreds of employees from its Android and Pixel teams on Thursday (April 10).
- The company cut down its staff from its Platform and Devices unit, claiming that they’re focused on operating more effectively.
- Google’s original decision to merge the organization’s OS and hardware teams was a key trigger for these layoffs.
Google laid off hundreds of employees from the Platforms and Devices unit on Thursday, April 10. This comes after the company has been pushing several employees to take voluntary exits for the past few months.
A source with direct knowledge of the situation told The Information that people working within the Android platform, Pixel phones, and the Chrome browser teams have been impacted by these layoffs.
In a statement to the publication, the tech giant said that since they combined the Android and Pixel teams last year, they’ve focused on, “becoming more nimble and operating more effectively.” The Google spokesperson also stated that these cuts are in addition to the voluntary exit program the company offered to its employees in January.
This voluntary layoffs program first opened up for U.S. employees in teams that serve Android Auto, Android TV, Wear OS, and the recent Android XR platform, alongside a wide range of Google and Chrome products. However, in February, the company expanded this program to the People Operations team as well.
At the time, a Google spokesperson told Android Central that “to support our People Operations team’s innovative work ahead, we’re opening new roles and offering a voluntary exit program with severance for their US-based employees.”
Like Meta and other major tech companies, Google is pivoting much of its manpower and resources to focus on AI advancement. Meta, too, has had several rounds of layoffs while touting the need for departments to be more “efficient.”
Google said in May 2024 that it needed to focus on “moving faster” to improve generative AI development for Gemini. It seems like the company is cutting resources from other teams as a result.
Another reason for these layoffs could be that Google merged Android and Chrome under one “Platform and devices” umbrella, with SVP Rick Osterloh heading this group and the Pixel team. This merger could have led to redundancies. The Information states that this division numbered over 20,000 before the buyout offer and layoffs.
As of now, Google’s total headcount is at 180,000 despite laying off 6% (12,000 jobs) of its employees in 2023. This recent batch of layoffs isn’t as massive but should still significantly impact these teams.
Android Central has reached out to Google for more information about the layoffs and we’ll update this article once we hear more.
