Alphabet’s CFO Ruth Porat announced in a message on Wednesday that Google is reorganizing its finance department. This includes making some employees redundant and moving others around. The reason behind this move is to focus more on investing in artificial intelligence (AI).
Porat explained in the memo, which CNBC got hold of, that“The tech sector is in the midst of a tremendous platform shift with Al.”
She also said, “As a company, this means we have the opportunity to make more helpful products for billions of users and provide faster solutions to our customers, but it also means we collectively have to make tough decisions, including how and where we work to align with our highest priority areas.”
Google has been adjusting its workforce and resources to invest more in new technologies like AI because growth in advertising has slowed down. CEO Sundar Pichai hinted in January that there would be more job cuts in 2024, but didn’t say which teams would be affected.
The reorganization will impact finance teams in various locations, including Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, according to Porat.
Porat also mentioned that Google will set up “hubs” for central operations in cities like Bangalore, Mexico City, Dublin, Chicago, and Atlanta. The company still plans to have a strong presence in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She added that creating these hubs around the world will make the organization more efficient and allow it to operate non-stop while respecting the working hours of finance employees.
Porat concluded the memo by acknowledging that saying goodbye to some colleagues is hard but necessary for the company’s future.
A Google spokesperson told CNBC via email that the company is investing in its main priorities and the big opportunities ahead.
Also “To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers, and align their resources to their biggest product priorities.”
