Google Offers Buyouts to More Workers Amid Tech Upheaval, Antitrust Uncertainty

Google has offered buyouts to another segment of its workforce across several key divisions in a fresh round of cost-cutting, coming ahead of a court decision that could force a breakup of its internet empire.

The buyouts come as Google awaits a federal judge’s decision on the future of its search engine. I Photo: Austin McKinley Wikimedia Commons

The Mountain View, California–based company confirmed the restructuring, which was reported by several news outlets, according to the Associated Press (AP).

It is unclear how many employees are affected, but the offers were made to staff in Google’s search, advertising, research, and engineering units, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Google employs most of the nearly 186,000 workers on the global payroll of its parent company, Alphabet Inc.

“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” said Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini in a statement. “

A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in person,” she added.

The buyouts come as Google awaits a federal judge’s decision on the future of its search engine, which was declared an illegal monopoly as part of a nearly five-year-old U.S. Justice Department case.

The company is also awaiting a ruling in another antitrust case involving its digital ad network.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is considering a government proposal that would prohibit Google from paying more than $26 billion annually to Apple and other tech firms to make its search engine the default option, require it to share data with rivals, and possibly force the sale of its popular Chrome browser.

The ruling is expected before Labor Day and would set the stage for Google’s anticipated appeal of the 2024 decision.