Google spent $2.1 billion on severance and different prices because it laid off greater than 12,000 staff over the course of 2023. And the severance prices preserve coming: In only one month of 2024 up to now, the corporate has already spent $700 million on severance funds. expenses as a part of layoffs focusing on one other 1,000-plus positions. Alphabet, Google’s guardian firm, introduced this determine on Tuesday along with asserting its fourth quarter earnings figures.
Regardless of the cuts, Google ended 2023 with progress in most of its core companies. Google posted income of $86 billion within the fourth quarter of 2023, up 13 p.c 12 months over 12 months. The search large’s core digital promoting and cloud computing companies additionally confirmed regular progress, which CEO Sundar Pichai attributed to Google’s investments in generative AI.
Closing workplaces additionally prices Google
Google’s important income, its search engine enterprise, generated $48 billion, up practically 13 p.c 12 months over 12 months. The corporate’s subscription providers and gadgets section generated $10.7 billion, primarily from subscriptions to YouTube Premium and Music, YouTube TV and Google One, in accordance with Pichai. YouTube’s promoting income was $9.2 billion, up 15 p.c from final 12 months.
On a name with buyers, Pichai referred to as 2024 Alphabet’s “Gemini Period,” referring to the corporate’s AI language mannequin that’s anticipated to work throughout all of Google’s core merchandise. “Gemini is the primary realization of the imaginative and prescient we had once we based Google DeepMind, bringing collectively our two world-class analysis groups,” stated Pichai. Rounding the bend comes Gemini Extremely, an replace to the unique mannequin that the corporate remains to be engaged on. “Gemini Extremely is coming quickly. The crew is already engaged on the following model and bringing it to our merchandise, beginning with Search.”
Google is at the moment the third largest cloud supplier on the planet, behind Microsoft’s Azure and AWS. However the cloud division picked up steam final 12 months. The corporate reported $9.19 billion in income for Google Cloud, a big improve of 25.6 p.c 12 months over 12 months.
Whereas the layoffs have price Google a fairly penny, so have the actual property cuts ensuing from the layoffs (together with in areas just like the costly Bay Space). Closing bodily workplace house price Google a complete of $1.8 billion for all of 2023.
And Google’s continued investments in AI, aka the ‘Gemini period’, imply extra layoffs will observe in 2024 as the corporate makes cuts in different divisions to compensate.
