Alphabet’s self-driving car unit has cut 8% of its staff this year
By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN
Waymo, the self-driving car division of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said on Wednesday that it has cut approximately 8% of its staff across two rounds of layoffs this year.
Some 209 jobs were eliminated in total, after cuts in late January and another more recent round, the company confirmed on Wednesday.
“We took a thoughtful approach and feel confident that we’re providing for each of these former teammates through this transition,” the company said in a statement to CNN Wednesday. “We’re confident that we have the right teams in place to achieve success for Waymo.”
The Waymo job cuts come amid a spate of layoffs in the tech sector, as the industry adjusts to waning demand for digital services years into the pandemic and confronts broader uncertainty in the global economy. Rising interest rates have also dried up the easy access to funding tech companies used to fuel ambitious projects and bets on the future.
Alphabet said in January that it was cutting 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, after having grown by more than 50,000 employees over the prior two years. The cuts to Waymo highlight how even Alphabet’s most ambitious and high-profile long-term bets are not immune to its renewed focus on reining in costs.
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