Google offers buyouts to employees across the company, including Search

Google on Tuesday offered buyouts to employees across several of its divisions, including those within its knowledge and information and central engineering units as well as marketing, research and communications teams, CNBC has learned. 

Knowledge and information, or K&I, is the unit that houses Google's search, ads and commerce divisions. The buyouts Tuesday are the company's latest effort to reduce headcount, which Google has continued to do in waves since laying off 12,000 employees in 2023. 

CNBC could not confirm how many employees were impacted by the latest round of buyouts. The Information reported earlier that the company offered buyouts to employees in the search and ads unit.

The "voluntary exit program" applies to U.S.-based employees, and some teams are also mandating office returns for remote workers who live within 50 miles of an office, the company confirmed. They will be expected to assume a hybrid work schedule "in order to bring folks more together in-person."

"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," Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC. 

K&I has approximately 20,000 employees. The unit underwent a re-organization in October that resulted in Google executive Nick Fox taking over the helm. Fox sent out a memo on Tuesday saying that employees who are not meeting expectations may want to take the buyout and that those who are excited by their work and doing well to remain with the company.

"I want to be very clear: If you're excited about your work, energized by the opportunity ahead, and performing well, I really (really!) hope you don't take this! We have ambitious plans and tons to get done," Fox wrote, according to the memo which was reviewed by CNBC. "On the other hand, this VEP offers a supportive exit path for those of you who don't feel aligned with our strategy, don't feel energized by your work, or are having difficulty meeting the expectations of your role."

The buyouts come after finance chief Anat Ashkenazi in October said that one of her top priorities would be to drive more cost cutting as Google expands its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2025. 

So far this year, the company's "Platforms and Devices" unit and "People Operations" have also offered voluntary buyouts. Additionally, Google has demanded that some remote employees return to the office if they want to keep their jobs and avoid being part of broader cost cuts at the company, CNBC reported in April.

Google is also overhauling a popular internal learning platform to focus on teaching employees how to use modern AI tools in their work in a shift away from some of its nice-to-have programs to more business-essential offerings, CNBC reported Tuesday.

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