The company also confirmed the departure of Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman as part of the restructuring. Google has been integrating Fitbit products into its offerings since acquiring the company for $2.1 billion in 2019. This latest round of layoffs follows a series of layoffs in 2023, which saw the company let go of approximately 12,000 roles, or 6% of its workforce.
Key takeaways:
- Google has laid off hundreds of employees across multiple divisions including engineering and services, with affected divisions including Google Assistant and the Devices and Services PA team.
- The company confirmed the layoffs, stating they were part of organizational changes to align resources to their biggest product priorities.
- Google has also let go of most of its AR hardware team and will work with other OEMs, and Fitbit co-founders James Park and Eric Friedman are leaving as part of this restructuring.
- The Alphabet Worker Union criticized the layoffs, calling them "needless" and stating that the company cannot continue to fire employees while making billions.