Google has confirmed that it is eliminating “a few hundred roles” in its advertising sales team. This move follows recent layoffs within the hardware and central engineering teams, as well as among employees working on Google Assistant.
The company explained that these job cuts are part of a restructuring effort aimed at better supporting small and medium businesses. Despite the reductions, Google plans to expand the number of customers accounts the team supports and anticipates increased hiring in 2024.
A Google spokesperson stated in an email to USA TODAY, “Every year we go through a rigorous process to structure our team to provide the best service to our Ads customers. We map customers to the right specialist teams and sales channels to meet their service needs.”
“As part of this, a few hundred roles globally are being eliminated and impacted employees will be able to apply for open roles on the team or elsewhere at Google.”
Google Layoff: Hardware and Engineering Team also Affected 
The recent layoffs in the advertising sales team follow last week’s news of Google cutting several hundred jobs in its hardware and central engineering teams. Additionally, employees working on Google Assistant, the company’s voice-activated software product, were affected by these job cuts. This suggests a broader restructuring effort within different segments of Google’s workforce.
The recent layoffs have also impacted teams responsible for producing Google’s Nest, Pixel, and Fitbit devices. Many of the cuts have affected the company’s augmented reality team as well.
Gizchina News of the week
In a statement last week, Google mentioned, “As we’ve said, we’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead. To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities.” This indicates a strategic effort to streamline operations and allocate resources more effectively within the company.
Google made significant workforce reductions in January 2023, cutting approximately 12,000 jobs. This move resulted in a reduction of about 6% of the company’s workforce. The company has been undertaking various restructuring efforts to optimize its operations and allocate resources efficiently.
Not Just Google: Other Tech Companies Also Facing Layoff 
Twitch, Amazon’s livestreaming platform, recently announced a workforce reduction of 35%. In a blog post, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy stated, “Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company, and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step of reducing our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch.”
Amazon is also implementing job cuts in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios divisions. In addition to Twitch and Amazon, other tech companies, including Discord and Duolingo, have also announced layoffs at the beginning of this year. These workforce adjustments reflect ongoing changes and strategic shifts within the technology and streaming industry.
