Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc has announced on Friday (January 20) that it is planning to lay off 6% of its worldwide total workforce ie 12,000 employees. Alphabet’s Chief Executive has given this information in a staff memo.

Recently, Alphabet’s rival Microsoft Corp said that this week the company could lay off 5% of its workforce (around 11,000). The news of large-scale layoffs in Microsoft and Alphabet has created a stir in the technology sector.

“I am confident of the enormous opportunity ahead of us, driven by the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in the note.

The layoffs at Alphabet will impact recruitment, corporate functions as well as employees in some engineering and products teams. Google said, ‘This layoff is global and most of the US employees will be affected.