Google to lay off hundreds of employees as sales team adopts AI: report

Google will lay off hundreds of employees from its ad sales team in a further cost-cutting measure, the company announced.

The layoffs come as Google plans to restructure its ad sales division, cutting teams focused on large customers and expanding teams focused on small and medium-sized businesses.

A Google spokesperson told FOX Business: “Each year, we go through a rigorous process to build our team to ensure we can best serve our advertising customers.” “We will map customers to the appropriate specialized teams and sales channels to meet their service needs. As part of this, hundreds of roles around the world will be eliminated and affected employees will be You will be able to apply for open roles elsewhere at Google.''

In a memo to staff first reported by Business Insider, Chief Executive Philip Schindler wrote that hundreds of people will be laid off as Google reorganizes its ad sales division.

Google lays off hundreds of employees

Google plans to move staff from its large consumer sales team, which focuses on large advertising clients, to the Google customer solutions team, which serves small and medium-sized clients. Current and former employees told Business Insider that the change occurred because some of Google's largest customers don't need as much access to the company's resources.

A spokesperson said the changes are not unusual and are larger than similar reorganizations during the pandemic, but not unprecedented.

In a memo reported by Business Insider, Schindler said, “Going forward, GCS will be a core channel for expanding growth by dynamically delivering the right care to every customer, while LCS will be the “We are focused on transformative growth for our most sophisticated customers.”

“While we are confident we are doing the right thing for our customers, partners and ultimately our business, this is going to be extremely difficult for many, especially the entire LCS team. ” he later added.

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In this photo illustration, you can see the Google Bird logo. (Photo illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to Business Insider, Google is also using AI products like P-MAX to automate tasks for its ad sales team, such as deciding how advertiser funds should be spent across products. It is reported that.

Google said the job cuts primarily affect its large consumer sales teams and are unrelated to AI.

Earlier this month, Google announced it would lay off hundreds of employees working in its voice assistant division and hundreds more working on its augmented reality hardware team. Hundreds of roles within central engineering teams are also affected.

A Google spokesperson told FOX Business: “We are investing responsibly in our biggest priorities and the important opportunities ahead.” “To best position our company for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to drive efficiencies. and work better, and aligning resources to the product's biggest priorities. ”

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at an event in New Delhi on December 19, 2022. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Google's layoffs come as tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Meta seek to maximize operational efficiency as they prepare to compete in the AI ​​space. Last month, Google unveiled its latest AI software, Gemini, which aims to compete with Microsoft-backed OpenAI's GPT-4 model and Amazon's Olympus software.

Last week, Amazon laid off hundreds of employees across its streaming and studio operations. Hundreds of jobs were also cut at the company's live streaming platform Twitch and audiobook division Audible, according to media reports.

Overall, technology companies have laid off more than 7,500 employees so far in January, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi.

“No company wants to be left behind in the AI ​​revolution,” Gil Luria, an analyst at DA Davidson & Co, told Reuters. We are making sure that there are and are working on them as a priority.”

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The job cuts at Google come a year after CEO Sundar Pichai announced plans to cut 12,000 employees amid challenging conditions. economic environment.

These reductions affected teams around the world, including some engineering and product teams, as well as recruiting teams and some corporate divisions.

FOX Business' Daniella Genovese, Breck Dumas and Reuters contributed to this report.