Google Expands Voluntary Buyouts to Workers in Five More Countries as Heavy AI Spending Squeezes Costs; Microsoft Offered Buyouts to 60,000 Last Week, Fox Business Reports
Fox Business, citing Reuters, says Google offered exit packages starting in June in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. One month of pay per year worked, capped at 12 months, applied in Switzerland.
Google is extending its employee buyout program to five more countries as it tries to hold down costs while it spends heavily on artificial intelligence, Fox Business reports.
The countries. The company told Reuters that select workers in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland were offered buyouts beginning in June. Fox Business says it is unclear how many employees accepted.
Google's explanation. A spokesperson told Reuters: "In 2025, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance. This past summer, in June, we expanded this program globally in a few countries to support our important work ahead."
The terms. Three people familiar with the matter told Reuters that in Switzerland the packages were announced in mid-June and applicants were told of decisions by mid-July. Employees who accepted received one month of pay for every year worked, with severance capped at 12 months. Fox Business says earlier buyout rounds did not cover Google's cloud business or its DeepMind AI unit, and that at least one division later moved to involuntary job cuts after first offering buyouts.
Still hiring in AI. Fox Business quotes Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi from the July 22 earnings call: "We also expect to continue hiring in key investment areas such as AI and Cloud."
The wider picture. Fox Business says Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees last week, covering divisions such as AI experiences, Copilot, finance, human resources, Xbox and Windows and devices, while marketing, commercial and security teams were excluded. The outlet says the offers show the financial pressure on large tech firms racing to build AI, as data center, chip and computing costs climb and investors question how fast the spending will pay off. It also links Google's parent, Alphabet, to a stock drop of nearly $500 billion on AI spending fears, in an earlier report we did not read.
Why it matters here. Workers, not only investors, are absorbing the cost of the AI buildout. It also fits the same story as the data center fight in Texas, which we cover separately today.
What we could not check. We read the Fox Business article, not the Reuters report behind it. Google did not give a number of accepted buyouts in what we saw, and Fox Business says it asked Google for comment.