A view of an Apple store in Palo Alto, California, on Thursday. Apple is the only tech giant that has yet to announce major layoffs in recent weeks. – AFPpic: Google and Apple on Thursday reported downbeat results for the last quarter of 2022 as Amazon beat expectations, but warned that the coming months would be uncertain in a difficult moment for Big Tech.
The souring mood followed a long spell of outsized growth during the peak Covid-19 period when consumers went online for work, shopping and entertainment. Pichai last month announced a plan to lay off 12,000 people in order to reverse pandemic over-hiring and focus on new areas, especially artificial intelligence.
The world'’s biggest company in terms of market value reported a fall in quarterly revenue and profit for the final three months last year, hit by a drop in sales of its flagship iPhones. Last month, the company said it would let go more than 18,000 employees after the workforce swelled by 800,000 employees during the peak years of the pandemic period.