Google’s Unprofitable Company ‘Verily’ Lays Off 15% Employees

California: 15% of the workforce at Verily, an Alphabet unit that also includes Google and YouTube, was laid off as part of a restructuring effort. The company has let go of about 240 people, according to many postings on the job-sharing website LinkedIn and reports in the media.

Verily, a company that specialises in health sciences is the first known Alphabet-owned business to mass-fire staff as the financial situation deteriorates.

A key executive from Verily also left the organisation. Although the corporation has not yet made any such announcements, it is anticipated that its sibling brand Google may make some staff reductions. Numerous tech behemoths, including Meta (previously Facebook), Twitter, Amazon, and Salesforce, have fired thousands of employees since October 2022.

According to reports, Verily CEO Stephen Gillett sent an email to affected workers on Wednesday. The email reportedly informed the workers that the remaining workdays of the week should be completed from home as the company’s physical offices would be closed on Thursday and Friday. ” Those who are in the office today can return home now,” the email read.

Additionally, the source citing the email notes that the cuts are a result of discontinued programs and team ‘redundancy’. The business is also replacing a number of executives. Jordi Parramon, president of Verily’s devices businesses, has left the company after working there since the beginning.

The email reads, “As we move into Verily’s next chapter, we are doubling down on our purpose, with the goal to ultimately be operating in all areas of precision health.”

Notably, Verily and its sister company Google developed tools to support consumers during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to Access, Calico, CapitalG, GV, Waymo, and X, the business is a component of Alphabet’s “other bets” division.