Google lays off employees with $1 million salary

Among the 12,000 employees laid off by Google CEO Sundar Pichai's decision were people who earned a salary of about $1 million a year, The Information reported, citing sources at the technology corporation.

Some of those who lost their jobs were high-performing or in management positions with annual salaries of $500,000 to $1 million, said Google executives, who did not want to give their names.

They also noted that the layoffs affect nearly every company and division of the corporation, from Google Cloud and Chrome to teams related to Android and the search engine.

In January 2022, it was reported that the salaries of four Google executives were increased to $1 million. They also received additional stock options.

According to The Information, Google's HR people have been advised to consider those employees who have been with the company for three months or less when laying off.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai earlier said that they had to lay off about 12,000 employees at once, which is 6 percent of the company's total workforce. Pichai also said it was a difficult decision they were making to build the future of the company.

Google is not the only company in the IT sector making mass layoffs. Microsoft also announced a few days ago that it was planning mass layoffs in the near future. According to Reuters, that's about 6,000 employees, and according to Sky News, Microsoft will cut about 5 percent of its workforce, or about 11,000 employees.

Layoffs are also happening at many large companies, including Meta, Oracle, Tesla, Amazon, Vimeo, Twitter, and even McDonald's.