Just days later Alphabet and Google CEO Sudar Pichai warned the workers The former, which has made more layoffs this year, is laying off dozens of employees, mostly support staff, at its moonshot lab. Alphabet is also restructuring Xi (not to be confused with the platform formerly known as Twitter) to make it easier to run projects as an independent startup backed by outside investors. Alphabet has confirmed these changes, which it first reported Bloomberg, to Engadget.
“As we’ve said, we’re investing responsibly in our company’s highest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget. “During the second half of 2023, to best position us for these opportunities, a number of our teams have made changes to be more efficient and work better and to align their resources to our biggest product priorities. Some teams continue to build these types of. Globally, some about the organizational changes, which include the elimination of roles. We continue to support each affected employee as they seek new roles here at Google and beyond.”
“We are broadening our approach to focus on delivering more projects as standalone companies funded by market-based equity,” Division X chief Astro Teller told employees in a memo. “We will do this by opening our scope to collaborate with a broader base of industry and financial partners, and by continuing to emphasize lean teams and capital efficiency.”
“This approach will allow us to focus more on what Xers do best: inventing cutting-edge technologies to help solve the world’s most pressing problems,” Teller added. “Because the world needs moonshots now more than ever.”
X is to try to solve basic problems food wasteclimate change and connection through innovation, but has yet to find a ton of success through spin-off businesses. Last year, former Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat became the company’s president and chief investment officer and now oversees X.
whom Bloomberg notes that over the past few years, the onus has fallen more on X to turn its ambitious ideas into profitable businesses, while Alphabet has cut costs across the board. Earlier this month, Google laid off hundreds of employees from various divisions, including equipment, engineering and advertising sales teams, as they put more emphasis on artificial intelligence. Google a year ago let go of most workers from its Area 120 startup incubator.
