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Report: Google To Lay Off 10,000

Google is reportedly preparing to lay off as many as 10,000 workers, according to sources at the blog Web Guild. Hundreds of employees have already been laid off and there are reports that about 500 of them were recruiters for the search giant. In fact, this is one of the reasons the company was able to meet Wall Street's Q3 expectations, Web Guild claims.

Google has clearly managed to get around the SEC's requirement that it publicly disclose layoffs by classifying close to 30% of its workforce as contract workers. According to SEC documents, Google has 20,123 employees, but Web Guild claims the actual number is closer to 30,000. Many of these workers will be getting the boot. As Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, "There is no question that the number (of workers) is too high."

Hiring contract workers helps Google effectively hire full-time employees without full-time benefits. Also, by under-reporting actual employee headcount, Google ends up looking better to Wall Street. As Web Guild says, "A low headcount gives the illusion that productivity per employee is more than it actually is, which in turn looks good in the eyes of Google shareholders which is ultimately good for Google's stock in the short term."

Read the whole story at Web Guild »

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