Google's parent company Alphabet to lay off 12K employees

Joining the Big Tech league of Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, Google's parent company Alphabet is now laying off 12,000 employees, or about 6 per cent of its workforce globally, the media reported on Friday.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, in an internal memo accessed first by Reuters, announced the layoffs that are across the verticals, including engineering, product, recruiting and corporate teams.

The layoffs at Google's parent company were expected amid the deepening funding winter that has hit companies of all sizes in the global slowdown and recession fears.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said earlier this week that the company will be "making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of FY23 Q3 (third quarter)".

More than 1,600 tech employees are being laid off per day on an average in 2023 globally, including in India, and the sacking episodes have gained speed amid global economic meltdown and recession fears.

The year 2023 has begun on a bad note for tech workers globally as 91 companies have laid off more than 24,000 tech employees in the first 15 days this month, signalling worse days ahead.

Amazon announced to lay off 18,000 employees globally, including nearly 1,000 in India.

Cyber-security company Sophos is laying off about 450 people globally including in India -- which is 10 per cent of its workforce -- to achieve "the optimal balance of growth and profitability."