• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 22, 2024

Google’s parent company Alphabet will adopt a new structure for its X division, a research and development subsidiary focused on inventing and launching "moonshot" technologies. The organizational structure will enable its projects to spin out more easily.

Waymo, a self-driving car company; Loon, an internet-connectivity high-altitude balloon venture; Wing, which designs and manufactures delivery drones; Verily, which provides research for medical cures; and Malta, technology that provides a way to store electricity using molten salt, are some of the companies X has been responsible in creating.

Any new spinoffs will act as independent startups and gain support from Alphabet and outside backers, Bloomberg reported, citing one person and an email to staff obtained by the media outlet.

The change means Alphabet will lay off dozens of employees and turn to outside investors to help fund the projects. 

Founded in 2010, X is the brainchild of Google founders Brin and Page.

Astro Teller, who leads the Moonshot X lab, wrote in the email to Bloomberg that funding through market-based capital will help to spin off more projects as independent companies.

The cuts are slowly taking place, pulling employees back into the unemployment pool, like high rip currents that have continued for weeks. Since the beginning of the year, Google has eliminated thousands of jobs on teams such as hardware, software and engineering.

Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat will step down and move to a new role as president and chief investment officer to oversee the division, “other bets,” that includes X.

Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned of more layoffs after eliminating thousands of jobs at Google and about 100 at YouTube. He said the company’s “ambitious goals” require some teams to eliminate roles to “create the capacity” for investment in promising areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), which agencies believe will only make it more difficult to support brands.