Google has expanded voluntary buyout offers to employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland as it looks to rein in rising costs amid heavy spending on artificial intelligence. Reuters could not determine how many employees accepted the offers.
Alphabet's Google began offering voluntary exit packages in June to some employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland, the company confirmed to Reuters. The offers had not previously been reported.
According to a Google spokesperson: "This past summer, in June, we expanded this program globally in a few countries". The spokesperson said some teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance in 2025.
Cost pressure builds as AI spending rises
The move comes amid mounting AI spending that has unnerved Wall Street and dented Alphabet's stock price. Microsoft last week offered voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees in an effort to contain costs.
Alphabet's workforce has grown steadily in recent quarters, but the company has sought to shift resources toward priority areas. Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi has repeatedly highlighted AI and cloud computing as key hiring priorities in quarterly earnings presentations. Employees in Google Cloud and AI unit DeepMind have been excluded from past buyout offers, and the latest expansion appears to follow the same pattern.
Separately, the company followed its voluntary offers with a round of layoffs in a division in at least one case.
Swiss program offers up to 12 months of salary
In Switzerland, where Google employs about 5,000 people, three people familiar with the matter said the program covered multiple divisions but excluded DeepMind. Google announced the packages in mid-June and gave responses by mid-July to employees who applied, they said.
Staff who accepted received one month's salary for each year of service, up to a maximum of 12 months. Employees began leaving in August, the people said.
One person said at least four employees in a team of about 50 had accepted the offer.
Source: Investing.com
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