Google to Layoff 30k | Hacker News Reader

Google to Layoff 30k

cnbctv18.com

10 pointsvincent_s7 comments

The article is sourced from The Information, which says "Google plans to reorganize a big part of its 30,000-person ad sales unit, an executive told some staff last week, prompting anxiety that some departments will face job cuts."

That doesn't sound like laying off 30,000 people. That sounds like a exec said there would be a reorganization of a "big part" of a unit of 30,000 people total, and people are worried it will include some layoffs, which is not the same thing.

> The proposed restructuring is anticipated to primarily impact Google's ad sales department, where the company is exploring the benefits of leveraging AI for operational efficiency.

I guess you don't need sales staff if you have a market monopoly.

Shareholders want this. Begs questions about the ARPU and the cost side of ads if they can lose this many in ad management.

Google are not docs, or Gmail, or even really things like hosted gcp. Google are ads. The overwhelming majority of income is ads. Everything else either exists to feed ads or is tolerated on a short fuse.

It's like 60%. This is like Ford sacking it's car sales staff, for confidence it won't undermine car sales.

Is it chutzpah? How can we tell? Ad placement and bid mechanics are for most of us a black box.

  Google's experimentation with AI extends beyond ad sales, encompassing its customer support service as well. The integration of AI in customer support is expected to directly influence the human-centric aspects of the company's operations.

Damn. That is 25% of its workforce. DAFUQ.

Not quite 25% according to these numbers (https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/googl/employees/), but yeah, that’s a huge chunk.

If they cut 30k from their current ~182k headcount though, that puts them back at 152k, which is roughly their headcount in 2021. It’s not good, but given their slowing growth, not surprising.

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