Google has offered a “voluntary exit program” to all United States employees working on Android, Pixel, and Chrome, which would provide a severance package for those willing to resign.
The program impacts all U.S. members of its Platforms & Devices division, which also includes Fitbit, Nest, and Google Photos.
“The Platforms & Devices team is offering a voluntary exit program that provides U.S.-based Googlers working on this team the ability to voluntarily leave the company with a severance package,” said Platforms & Devices senior vice president Rick Osterloh.
“There’s tremendous momentum on this team and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be deeply committed to our mission and focused on building great products, with speed and efficiency.”
The Platforms & Devices team was consolidated from its Devices & Services division in April 2024 to enable “full-stack innovation when that’s necessary”, Osterloh said at the time.
More than 1,250 Google employees signed an internal petition for job security this month. “We, the undersigned Google workers from offices across the US and Canada, are concerned about instability at Google that impacts our ability to do high quality, impactful work,” said the petition.
The petition also asks Google to guarantee severance to fired employees and offer buyouts before layoffs begin.
Google dismissed more than 1,000 employees across its Devices & Services, Core Engineering, and Google Assistant divisions in January 2024. It also laid off more than 200 additional Core workers in April.
Anat Ashkenazi, the new CFO at Google’s parent company Alphabet, said in October that Alphabet plans significant cost-cutting in 2025.
Azzet has contacted Google for comment.
Alphabet’s share price (NASDAQ: GOOG) closed at US$202.63, up from its previous close at $197.18. Alphabet’s market capitalisation is $2.5 trillion.
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