SAN FRANCISCO — The wave of layoffs that has damaged over Silicon Valley up to now two years isn’t over.
On Wednesday, Google confirmed it had lower lots of of engineering and {hardware} staff because it sought to chop prices and refocus on synthetic intelligence. The identical day, Amazon stated it might lower some positions at its Prime Video and MGM Studios leisure divisions. Twitch, a online game streaming firm owned by Amazon, additionally stated it was shedding 500 workers members.
The cuts at two of the business’s largest and most worthwhile corporations present that the tech world just isn’t finished with the waves of layoffs that started in 2022. After a large hiring spree throughout the first years of the pandemic, start-ups and Big Tech corporations alike have been firing tens of hundreds of staff as increased rates of interest make it dearer to spend money on new tasks and the businesses search to extend their profitability, relatively than specializing in development.
At Google, the cuts have been a continuation of layoffs that hit groups together with its Waze navigation app, new worker recruiting and Google News.
“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. Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes,” stated Chris Pappas, a Google spokesperson. “We’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead.”
Wednesday’s cuts hit the corporate’s {hardware} division and included a reorganization of the groups that work on Fitbit, its Nest dwelling units division and its Pixel smartphones.
Google has invested billions of {dollars} over a few years to construct {hardware} and compete with Apple within the smartphone and smartwatch markets and Amazon on dwelling units, however the division remains to be small in comparison with its core promoting and search companies.
The cuts at Amazon and Google this week are small in comparison with the numerous hundreds of staff the 2 firms fired in 2022 and 2023. Amazon stated it was slicing round 27,000 staff starting on the finish of 2022 and persevering with by means of 2023. Google lower 12,000 jobs in January 2023, about 6 % of its workforce. Meta, the father or mother firm of Facebook, stated on the finish of 2022 it might lower 11,000 jobs, or 13 % of its staff.
The layoffs shook Silicon Valley, ending the period the place tech staff have been assured that they may leap from high-paying job to high-paying job each few years. Start-up funding dropped as properly. The gloom has solely been tempered by the bogus intelligence revolution, with buyers pouring cash into AI start-ups and Big Tech corporations pushing aside a few of their spending lower plans to purchase extra pc chips and rent AI researchers with the intention to make the most of client curiosity within the new tech.
“Our industry continues to evolve quickly and it’s important that we prioritize our investments for the long-term success of our business,” Mike Hopkins, senior vp of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, stated in a letter to workers Wednesday.
Source: washingtonpost.com
