Tech giant Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company has slashed top management roles by 10% as it doubles down on its efficiency-driven vision for a leaner organisation.
According to a report by Business Insider, Pichai, in an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, said the company has made changes over the past few years to simplify structure and be more efficient.
These changes included a 10% reduction in managers, directors, and vice presidents roles. While some roles in that figure were transitioned to individual contributor roles, some were eliminated.
The push for efficiency comes as the firm sees growing competition from AI rivals like OpenAI for its search business.
Just a day ago, AI-driven search engine Perplexity raised $500 million in its fourth funding round led by IVP (Institutional Venture Partners).
The round tripled the company’s valuation to $9 billion. It was last valued at $1 billion in April and then $3 billion in June after the Nvidia-backed company received an investment between $10 million and $20 million from SoftBank Group Vision Fund 2.
Google is not the only tech player moving towards a leaner organisational structure. In March 2023, Meta Platforms announced cutting 10,000 jobs in its second round of layoffs. The restructuring step included scrapping hiring plans for 5,000 openings, killing off lower-priority projects, and “flatten” layers of middle management. The company will also remove multiple layers of management, eliminate non-engineering roles, automate functions, and ask many managers to become individual contributors.
In India, Nikhil Kamath-backed 1% Club, led by finance influencer Sharan Hegde, this year laid off 15% of its total workforce as part of an AI-led cost-saving initiative to streamline operations.
“We have identified significant AI-driven cost savings that can boost profitability and efficiency which can be reinvested in the business growth,” Hegde said in a post on LinkedIn.
