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The cuts, which reportedly affect more than 200 employees, mark the first for an Alphabet-owned company amid the many recent tech layoffs.
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Verily, the health-focused company housed under Google parent Alphabet, is laying off staff and announcing a sweeping reorganization, as shared in an email from CEO Stephen Gillett posted on Verily’s blog. “Approximately 15 percent of Verily roles” have been cut, Gillett said, which translates to more than 200 employees, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As part of Verily’s changes, the company will be discontinuing development on its Verily Value Suite (which you can read more about on this jargon-filled page) and some “early-stage products,” Gillett wrote. It will be shifting to a centralized product organization with “increasingly connected healthcare solutions.” Gillett also detailed the new leadership team, though noted that the company plans to hire a new chief scientific officer and is continuing its search for a new CFO.
The cuts mark the first for an Alphabet-owned company amid the many recent tech layoffs, The Wall Street Journal reports. Meta and Amazon have announced massive layoffs, for example, and companies including Twitter, Intel, Salesforce, Vimeo, DoorDash, and more have revealed firings of their own. (We’ve been tracking many of the layoffs and hiring freezes in tech here.)
It’s unclear if Google or other Alphabet-owned companies are planning any further job cuts. Google and Alphabet didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Verily directed me to Gillett’s post.
Alphabet introduced Verily as a new name for the Google Life Sciences division in 2015. The company came under the spotlight early in the pandemic after former President Donald Trump claimed Google was building a nationwide coronavirus screening website, which it was not; instead, Verily initially launched a very limited screening website for people in the Bay Area in California.
Gillett is announcing these layoffs just over a week into his tenure as Verily’s CEO. Previously, Gillett was Verily’s COO and president, but he officially took over as CEO from Andy Conrad on January 3rd.