Google Inc parent Alphabet Inc is the latest company to announce massive layoffs as global firms resort to cost-cutting amid weak earnings guidance in the wake of the global downturn.

Like its peers Microsoft, Meta and Amazon, Google has also decided to slash 6% of its total workforce or around 12,000 jobs globally, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post on Friday. The layoffs will affect Google’s teams across the company i.e. from engineering to product to corporate and recruiting verticals.

“I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices,” Pichai wrote.

The Google CEO said over the past two years, the company saw periods of dramatic growth. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”