Google CEO Sundar Pichai explains why he's not doing layoffs in one fell swoop, but in stages

Sundar Pichai said Google’s layoffs have been intentional. Justin Sullivan/Getty

• Google is conducting waves of ongoing layoffs intentionally, according to Sundar Pichai. 
• Sundar Pichai said the company is “taking the time to do it correctly and well” in a Bloomberg interview.
• The company started 2024 with thousands of cuts, particularly from engineering and hardware teams.

Google has conducted multiple layoffs this year — and the slow burn is intentional.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang that the company is “taking the time to do it correctly and well.”

While Pichai has received criticism of his leadership and the culture around layoffs, he said that as a leader of a large company, he makes “fewer consequential decisions, but they need to be clear.”

Pichai said in some cases, Google is simplifying teams, and in others, it’s moving people to focus on new areas. The company is also removing some teams entirely to “improve velocity.”

Google cut about 12,000 people in 2023 and started off 2024 with thousands more laid off from core engineering and hardware teams.

At the time, Pichai said more layoffs were to come — and they did.

In April, the company laid off more staff from several finance and real estate teams. It also announced it would move roles to Bangalore, Mexico City, and Dublin to build out its “growth hubs.”

Google declined to say how many employees have been impacted by the layoffs so far this year.

Pichai said in the interview that Google is “reallocating people” to its “highest priorities.”

The cuts are an attempt to cut back on costs as it advances AI and ramps up efforts with a series of cloud advancements. Some of these include an Arm-based CPU, the general availability of TPU v5p, the new release of Gemini 1.5, and various changes to Google Workspace.

In his 2023 layoff announcement, Pichai said Google experienced “dramatic growth” over the last two years, which led to hiring “for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”

A Google spokesperson told BI that the company made a number of changes to become more efficient, remove layers, and align resources to its biggest priorities.

If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Microsoft Start.