• by Ray Schultz , October 18, 2023

The wave of layoffs hitting the tech field has hit news staff at Google. 

The search giant has laid off several people in its news division -- maybe 40 people, CNBC reports.  

In theory, this could affect coverage of critical events such as the conflict in Israel and Gaza and the war in Ukraine, but the layoff primarily affected engineering and tech employees, and Google still has hundreds on board in the division. In any event, it does not reflect a turning away from news. 

"We’re deeply committed to a vibrant information ecosystem, and news is a part of that long term investment," says Jenn Crider, Google spokesperson.

Crider adds, "We’ve made some internal changes to streamline our organization. A small number of employees were impacted, we're supporting everyone with a transition period, outplacement services, and severance as they look for new opportunities at Google and beyond." 

The Google news layoff, while painful, is tiny compared to the cuts announced by LinkedIn this week, affecting 668 staffers, 3% of its workforce, according to The New York Times.