The trend of big tech companies laying off employees is far from being over. Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google on Tuesday announced fresh round of firings at mapping app Waze as it merges the app’s advertising system with Google Ads technology.
“We have decided to transition Waze’s ads monetization to be managed by the Global Business Organization (GBO), similar to Google Maps. Unfortunately, this will result in a reduction of Waze Ads monetisation-focused roles in sales, marketing, operations and analytics,” wrote Chris Phillips, who oversees Google’s maps division called Geo, in an email to the employees.
“Decisions like these are incredibly difficult. Each one of these Wazers contributed to Waze’s success and culture, and I want to express my gratitude and respect for what they have achieved,”
The search engine giant acquired Waze for $1.3 billion in 2013. The Waze unit had more than 500 employees as of Tuesday but it remains unclear how many survived the fallout.
WATCH | Google’s Sundar Pichai hints at more layoffs
Waze also seemingly confirmed the firings in a statement. “In order to create a better, more seamless long-term experience for Waze advertisers, we’ve begun transitioning Waze’s existing advertising system to Google Ads technology. As part of this update, we’ve reduced those roles focused on Waze Ads monetisation and are providing employees with mobility resources and severance options in accordance with local requirements,” said Caroline Bourdeau, Waze’s head of PR.
Notably, the Waze app, which has roughly 1140 million active users, employs a crowdsourcing technique that allows it to determine the fastest driving route from one location to another. However, since last year, Google has been working towards assimilating Waze with its own Geo unit. The group also includes products like Google Maps, Google Earth and Street View.
Google fires 12,000 employees
After a bumper hiring spree in the aftermath of the pandemic, the tech giants have been cutting back on the workforce. In January, Alphabet announced it was laying off 12,000 employees, or six per cent of its workforce.
The indications were given by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai last year when he said he was attempting to make the company 20 per cent more efficient.
“We want to make sure as a company, when you have fewer resources than before, you are prioritizing all the right things to be working on and your employees are really productive that they can actually have impact on the things they’re working on so that’s what we are spending our time on,” said Pichai.
“Across everything we do, we can be slower to make decisions. You look at it end-to-end and figure out how to make the company 20 per cent more productive.”
(With inputs from agencies)
For all the latest business News Click Here
