Google Offers Buyouts and Mandates Office Returns Amid AI Shift and Antitrust Challenges

Google offers buyouts to more workers amid AI-driven tech upheaval and antitrust uncertainty

Google has offered buyouts to another swath of its workforce across several key divisions in a fresh round of cost cutting coming ahead of a court decision that could order a breakup of its internet empire. The Mountain View, California, company confirmed the streamlining that was reported by several news outlets. It's not clear how many employees are affected, but the offers were made to staff in Google's search, advertising, research and engineering units, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google employs most of the nearly 186,000 workers on the worldwide payroll of its parent company, Alphabet Inc. "Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead," a Google spokesperson, Courtenay Mencini, said in a statement. "A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person," Mencini said. Google is offering the buyouts while awaiting for a federal judge to determine its fate after its ubiquitous search engine was declared an illegal monopoly as part of nearly 5-year-old case by the U.S. Justice Department. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is weighing a government proposal seeking to ban Google paying more than $26 billon annually to Apple and other technology companies to lock in its search engine as the go-to place for online information, require it to share data with rivals and force a sale of its popular Chrome browser. The judge is expected to rule before Labor Day, clearing the way for Google to pursue its plan to appeal last year's decision that labeled its search engine as a monopoly. Like several of its peers in Big Tech, Google has been periodically reducing its headcount since 2023 as the industry began to backtrack from the hiring spree that was triggered during pandemic lockdowns that spurred feverish demand for digital services. Google began its post-pandemic retrenchment by laying off 12,000 workers in early 2023 and since then as been trimming some divisions to help bolster its profits while ramping up its spending on artificial intelligence -- a technology driving an upheaval that is starting to transform its search engine into a more conversational answer engine. © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Google buyouts are being offered to employees on search and other teams as shift to AI ramps up

Google is offering buyouts to certain employees in the United States and requiring more workers to return to offices as it continues to shift toward AI. The "voluntary exit program," as Google calls it, is being offered to employees on the communications, core, knowledge and information (which includes search, ads, and commerce), marketing, and research teams, Google confirmed with Fast Company on Wednesday. The buyouts would see Google provide employees with a pay and benefits package in exchange for their exit. "Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for US-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead," Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement. "A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person."

Google expands voluntary buyout offers, orders some remote workers to...

Google is offering a fresh round of buyouts to some employees and cracking down on remote workers as it shifts more resources toward the artificial intelligence race, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The Big Tech giant, led by CEO Sundar Pichai, ordered remote workers on some teams to spend at least three days in the office per week. The mandate applies to remote workers who live within 50 miles of an office. "A number of teams are also asking remote employees who live near an office to return to a hybrid work schedule in order to bring folks more together in-person," Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement. The return-to-office push for remote workers is not a companywide policy and was being implemented on a team-by-team basis according to specific needs, the spokesperson added. The company also offered voluntary buyouts to members of the division that oversees its search engine, as well as those on its core engineering team, and in marketing, research and communications units. The budget-tightening effort comes after Google extended the same offer to members of its platforms and devices division in February. US workers on the teams are eligible to apply regardless of their level and will receive severance if they take the buyout. "Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for US-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead," Mencini said in a statement. It wasn't immediately clear how many of Google's employees have received the offer. The company had more than 183,000 employees as of the end of last year. The company's stock was flat in Wednesday trading. CNBC had earlier reported on the policies. Google and other tech giants have been trimming and restructuring their workforces while pouring tens of billions of dollars into developing advanced AI. Alphabet CFO Anat Ashkenazi said last October that the company would be looking for "additional opportunities" for slashing costs. Google also faces some looming regulatory risks after losing a pair of major antitrust cases brought by the DOJ. A federal judge will decide by August whether to break up Google's search engine business, while another judge has set a September trial date to decide on how to handle the company's illegal monopolies in the digital advertising sector. In both cases, Google has vowed to appeal. Google previously laid off about 12,000 employees in 2023 and several thousand additional employees across multiple teams throughout last year.