Google layoffs continue as tech company eliminates hundreds of jobs in ad sales team

Google is eliminating "a few hundred roles" in its advertising sales team, the company confirmed to USA TODAY.

The most recent layoffs in the ad sales division come days after the company cut several hundred jobs within its hardware and central engineering teams, as well as employees who work on Google Assistant.

The company said it is cutting jobs as part of a restructuring effort to better support small and medium businesses. As a result of these changes, the company is expanding the number of customer accounts the team supports and expects to increase hiring in 2024.

"Every year we go through a rigorous process to structure our team to provide the best service to our Ads customers. We map customers to the right specialist teams and sales channels to meet their service needs," a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY.

"As part of this, a few hundred roles globally are being eliminated and impacted employees will be able to apply for open roles on the team or elsewhere at Google."

Google layoffs 2024:Hundreds of employees on hardware, engineering teams lose jobs

Google also laying off employees on hardware and central engineering teams

The news of the layoffs comes on the heels of the company last week cutting several hundred jobs within its hardware and central engineering teams, as well as employees who work on Google Assistant, the company's voice-activated software product.

The layoffs also hit the teams that produce Google's Nest, Pixel and Fitbit devices, with many of the cuts affecting the company's augmented reality team.

“As we’ve said, we’re responsibly investing in our company's biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead," the company said in a statement last week. "To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities."

Google also cut roughly 12,000 jobs in January 2023, reducing the company's workforce by about 6%.

Twitch, other tech companies also dealing with layoffs

Amazon's livestreaming platform, Twitch, also announced earlier last week it would cut 35% of its workforce.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," wrote Twitch CEO Dan Clancy in a blog post. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company, and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step of reducing our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

Amazon is also cutting jobs in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios divisions, while other tech companies, like Discord and Duolingo, have also announced layoffs to start the year.