Google issues ‘voluntary exit’ program for Android, Chrome, and Pixel employees – TechCrunch
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Google SVP Rick Osterloh issued an internal memo to the Pixel/Android/Chrome team Thursday, announcing a “voluntary exit program.” TechCrunch has confirmed the letter’s existence with the company, after it was first reported by 9 to 5 Google.In a statement to TechCrunch, a spokesperson notes:The Platforms & Devices team is offering a voluntary exit program that provides US-based Googlers working on this team the ability to voluntarily leave the company with a severance package. This comes after we brought two large organizations together last year. There’s tremendous momentum on this team and with so much important work ahead, we want everyone to be deeply committed to our mission and focused on building great products, with speed and efficiency.The voluntary severance program arrives just under a year after Google merged the Android, Pixel hardware, and Chrome teams into a single “Platform and Devices” division, overseen by Osterloh.The executive noted in April that the re-org was a bid to integrate the company’s AI offerings more deeply into its products. In the intervening months, Google’s generative AI platform, Gemini, has grown into an outsized presence among its hardware and software offerings.Gemini took center stage earlier this month as Samsung unveiled its flagship Galaxy S25 smartphone. The service has also been central to Google’s own hardware devices, effectively replacing the Home Assistant on Pixel products. Google Home, meanwhile, continues to play a role in the company’s Nest line of smart home hardware.The exit program applies to a wide range of Google offerings, including Android, Chrome/ChromeOS, Fitbit, Google One, Nest, Photos, and Pixel. Other large Google divisions, including AI and search, are not directly impacted. Word of the memo follows Amazon’s confirmation that it laid off dozens of employees across its communications and corporate responsibility divisions on Wednesday.Topics
Hardware Editor
Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Juniper. Pentagon scrambles to block DeepSeek after employees connect to Chinese servers
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