The big story

The cost of cuts

There’s been plenty of speculation about what Google’s mass layoffs last year meant for its famous culture. But what about the impact on its bottom line?

The 2023 job cuts, which totaled some 12,000 in January alone and left employees shocked, cost Google $2.1 billion, Business Insider’s Sarah Jackson reports. Alphabet shared the number as part of its fourth-quarter earnings report on Tuesday.

The cutting costs don’t stop there. The tech giant also reported it expects to incur an additional $700 million in severance costs this quarter.

Google already laid off hundreds of employees this month, impacting everything from advertising to central engineering. And CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly told employees there will be more to come.

This year’s layoffs have led some Googlers to start fighting back amid what they believe is a destruction of the company’s culture.

Paying nearly $3 billion to lay off employees wasn’t the only sore spot on Google’s earnings report. The company’s revenue for its search business, its bread and butter, fell just short of Wall Street estimates.

Google’s revenue for the quarter ($86.3 billion) and fiscal year ($307.4 billion) showed year-over-year growth — 13% and 9%, respectively — and topped analysts’ estimates. But that wasn’t enough to soften the blow of Google’s core business not meeting expectations, as its share price dropped during after-hours trading.