Tech Tok: Layoffs at Google make louder noise

Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. recently announced that it will be laying off 12,000 employees

Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. recently announced that it will be laying off 12,000 employees, which constitutes six per cent of its global workforce. The move comes in as multiple tech companies are terminating a section of their workforce ahead of the anticipated recession.

While tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, and others bear no exception to this termination trend in the industry, the way Google handled it, has become a matter of discussion on online platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Although multiple former employees left heartwarming messages for their ex-colleagues and shared their positive experiences within the company, stories of how some long-term employees found out about their termination have created an impact online.

Aitan Weinberg, who worked as a Group Product Manager at Google shared his story on LinkedIn. “I dropped my daughter at school and was at a bus stop to the dentist. I looked in my email and saw nothing from Sundar,” he wrote, adding that he later realised that his email stopped refreshing and that access on his phone was revoked. He later received an SMS from his boss who reached out to him offering a chat, which confirmed his suspicions.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai in an email sent to employees, which later became public, said that he took ‘full responsibility’ for the layoffs. He explained that the company has seen periods of dramatic growth in the last two years because of the pandemic which led to aggressive hiring. “We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” he wrote.

Employees who were fired displayed a common sentiment of distress, while some demanded to understand the termination criteria.

Microsoft further invests in OpenAI

Confirming the conjectures made in the last few weeks, Microsoft announced a multibillion-dollar investment in the AI domain as the tech giant extends its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

In 2019, Microsoft invested one billion dollars in the same company which was then backed by Twitter CEO Elon Musk. With the latest investment, it becomes one of the front runners in the AI and AR domain.

US Justice Dept to sue Google

The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to sue Google’s parent company Alphabet regarding its dominance over the digital advertising market, according to a Reuters report.

If filed, this lawsuit would be the second federal antitrust complaint against Google. The department claims that there are alleged violations of antitrust law regarding how the company acquires or maintains its dominance.

In 2020, a lawsuit focusing on Google’s monopoly in the search was brought by the same department which is scheduled to go to trial this September.

Samsung wallet now available in India

Samsung Wallet which was launched in June last year will now be available in India by the end of this month. It is basically a combination of the company’s existing services – Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass.

The wallet will now help customers make payments and store their passwords. The company is using its in-house Knox security to keep the data secure behind encryption.

Samsung Wallet is compatible with premium Samsung Galaxy phones and A-series smartphones from the brand. One can also save payment cards and crypto wallets on this app.

— Epsita Gunti with agency inputs