Google to axe 12,000 jobs; CEO Sundar Pichai says 'sorry'
New York, Jan 20: Google will lay off 12,000 jobs across the globe, its CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Friday, becoming the latest tech giant to retrench staff en mass amid the global economic downturn.
In an email to employees, the Indian-origin CEO said:"I have some difficult news to share. We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles."
Pichai said the layoffs at Google were carried out after a "rigorous review" of its operations.
The jobs being eliminated "cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions", he said.
"Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today," Pichai said in his mail, which was also posted on the company's news blog.
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced 10,000 job cuts, or nearly 5 per cent of its workforce.
Amazon is also cutting 18,000 jobs and Facebook parent Meta is trimming 11,000 positions.
"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," he said.
"I'm deeply sorry for that. The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here," he added.
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UP: Misled by GPS navigation, car falls into river from partially constructed bridge, 3 dead
Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.
The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.
"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.
The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.
There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.
Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.
The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) November 24, 2024
