~175,000 employees. They can probably run the company just fine with tens of thousands fewer employees. But, when it comes to productivity / profitability, it really doesn't seem so bad, frankly; consider:

2018 operating income margin: 22.9% ($31.4b op income)

2021 operating income margin: 30.5% ($78.7b op income)

And they nearly doubled sales in three years, from 2018 at $136.8b in sales to $257b at the end of fiscal 2021. That's something beyond astounding for a company so big.

This reeks of Sundar and top management worrying about their jobs, trying too hard to please Wall Street.