Google lays off hundreds of “core” workers, moves jobs to India, Mexico

Just ahead of its explosive first-quarter earnings report on April 25, Google has laid off at least 200 employees from its “core” teams in a reorganization that will include moving some roles to India and Mexico, CNBC has learned.

The core unit is responsible for building the technical foundation behind the company’s flagship products and protecting users’ online safety, according to Google website. Core teams include key technical units from IT, its Python development team, technical infrastructure, security foundation, application platforms, core developers and various engineering roles.

At least 50 of the eliminated positions were engineering at the company’s offices in Sunnyvale, Calif., filings show. Many core teams will fill related positions in Mexico and India, according to internal documents reviewed by CNBC.

Asim Hussain, vice president of Google’s developer ecosystem, broke the news of the layoffs to his team in an email last week. He also spoke at City Hall and told staff it was the biggest cut planned for his team this year, an internal document shows.

“We intend to maintain our current global footprint while expanding into high-growth global workforce locations so we can work closer to our partners and developer communities,” Hussain wrote in the email.

Alphabet has been cutting staff since early last year, when the company announced plans to cut about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, following a slump in the online advertising market. Even with the recent recovery in digital advertising, Alphabet has continued to cut, with multiple layoffs this year.

Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porath announced in mid-April that the company’s finance department would undergo a restructuring that would result in layoffs and relocation of positions to Bangalore and Mexico City. The company’s search chief, Prabhakar Raghavan, told employees at a general meeting in March that Google plans to build teams closer to consumers in key markets including India and Brazil, where labor is cheaper than in the U.S.

The latest cuts come as the company enjoys its fastest growth rate since early 2022, along with improving profit margins. Last week, Alphabet reported a 15% jump in first-quarter revenue from a year earlier and announced its first dividend and a $70 billion buyback.

“Messages of this nature may make many of you feel insecure or frustrated,” Hussain wrote in the email to developers. He added that his message to developers is that the changes “serve our broader goals” as a company.

The teams involved in the reorganization were key to the company’s developer tools, an area Google is streamlining as it incorporates more artificial intelligence into products. In February, Google announced a major rebranding of its chatbot from Bard to Gemini, the same name as the suit of AI models that power it.

Alphabet is gearing up for its annual developer conference, Google I/O, on May 14, where the company traditionally unveils new products and developer tools that have been in the works for the previous year. Hussain said in a note explaining the changes to developers that generative AI is at an “inflection point.”

“Recent advances in Generative AI in the industry, including Google’s Gemini, are changing the very nature of software development as we know it,” Hussain wrote.

In a separate email, Pankaj Rohatgi, Google’s vice president of security, told his team: “To optimize for our business goals, we are expanding work elsewhere, which will result in some role eliminations and proposed role eliminations.”

The major cuts also include the governance and data protection group, which will be at the center of the regulatory challenges facing the company, especially as lawmakers around the world focus more on the development of AI. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act, which came into force in March, aims to curb anti-competitive practices in technology.

Evan Kotsovinos, Google’s vice president of governance and data protection, addressed the upcoming changes last week.

Kotsovinos said in an email that the team’s success means responding to “escalating regulatory focus” and depends on “moving faster.”

Raghavan, Google’s senior vice president of search, recently cited increased competition, a more challenging regulatory environment and slower organic growth as the company’s “new operating reality.”

When reached for comment, Google confirmed the Core reorganization and layoffs, and a spokesperson told CNBC that employees will be able to apply for open positions at Google and access relocation services.

“As we’ve said, we’re investing responsibly in our company’s highest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead,” the spokesperson said in an email. “Several of our teams have made changes to become more efficient and work better, removed layers and aligned their resources with their biggest product priorities.”