‘There Will Be Blood on the Streets’: Google, Apple Warn Employees of Lay-Offs

After Google reportedly recorded weaker-than-expected earnings in its second consecutive quarter, executives of the tech giant reportedly warned employees of possible lay-offs if the end quarter results did not look good.

According to a screenshot viewed by Insider, Google Cloud sales leadership threatened its employees, saying there will be an “overall examination of sales productivity and productivity in general” and that if next quarter’s results “don’t look up, there will be blood on the streets.”

This also comes after the company in July announced a two-week hiring freeze, which has shown no signs of resumption.

Meanwhile, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees, “Create a culture that is more mission-focused, more focused on our products, more customer-focused. We should think about how we can minimize distractions and really raise the bar on both product excellence and productivity,” CNBC reported.

Apart from Google, a number of tech giants such as Meta, Netflix, and even Twitter have slowed down on hiring.

Apple Restricts Hiring

After Google’s warning, Apple Inc reportedly laid off around 100 contract-based recruiters who were responsible for hiring new employees for the world's most valuable company, Bloomberg reported.

The terminated workers were informed that they would receive payment and medical benefits for two weeks. Recruiters who are full-time employees, however, were retained.

The sacked workers were also told that the cuts were made due to the company's current financial needs.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook had said last month that Apple would be "more deliberate" in its spending.

"We believe in investing through the downturn… and so we'll continue to hire people and invest in areas, but we are being more deliberate in doing so in recognition of the realities of the environment," Cook was quoted as saying.

(With inputs from Bloomberg, Insider, and CNBC.)