After Google fired six per cent of its workforce in January, CEO Sundar Pichai during an interview with Wall Street Journal hinted at a second round of layoffs without directly addressing the prospects. He said that the focus is on moving people to its most important areas and he did not rule out the possibility of another mass layoff.
Talking about Google's artificial intelligence chatbot Bard and the new opportunities in Gmail and Google Docs, Pichai said, "We're very very focused on this set of opportunities we have, and I think there's a lot of work left. There's also an important inflection point with AI. Where we can, we are definitely prioritizing and moving people to our most important areas, so that is ongoing work."
Google to re-engineer the cost base
Pichai in the interview said that the company is looking into all aspects to re-engineer the cost base in response to a question regarding how the tech giant is planning to enhance efficiency by 20 per cent. Though he specified that it was not worded in the same way saying at the company level they have goals to durably improve margins and drive long-term savings. He also added, "We are definitely being focused on creating durable savings. We are pleased with the progress, but there's more work left to do."
Google layoffs
Google in January had announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs and according to Pichai these cuts were made after careful consideration. Pichai in a statement during the beginning of the year had said, "We've already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices."
In February the company had also reported that it had fired 450 employees across different sections in India. However, it is not clear if it was part of the layoffs announced in January.
