Google offers buyouts to staff in latest round of cost cutting
Google has offered buyouts to staff in several divisions in a fresh round of cost cutting, according to reports from several news outlets.
It's not clear how many employees are affected, but the offers were made to staff in Google's search, advertising, research and engineering units, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Monday Mornings
The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
'Some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for US-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,' the company said in a statement to the newspaper.
The tech company started trimming its headcount in 2023, when it announced that it was laying off 12,000 staff as the economic boom that fueled demand for online services during the COVID-19 pandemic started to fade.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cision Canada
44 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
SutiSign Enhances eSignature Security with Intelligent ID Verification and 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance
SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 12, 2025 /CNW/ -- SutiSoft leads the way in providing intelligent, cloud-based solutions that transform how businesses operate in a digital world. Today, SutiSoft is excited to announce major enhancements to their electronic signature platform, SutiSign, now featuring dynamic Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA) and compliance with 21 CFR Part 11 standards. These new features are designed to deliver a smarter, more secure eSigning experience for organizations handling sensitive information and operating under strict regulatory frameworks. With this update, SutiSoft continues its commitment to innovation by integrating intelligent identity verification and regulatory-grade audit capabilities into its already robust eSignature solution. Businesses in highly regulated industries, including healthcare, life sciences, and pharmaceuticals, can now meet compliance mandates while improving signer confidence and process integrity. "Trust and compliance are the foundation of successful digital transactions," said N.D. Reddy, CEO of SutiSoft, Inc."By introducing AI-powered identity verification and aligning with FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 standards, SutiSign helps businesses manage electronic signatures with confidence, security, and compliance built in from the start." The dynamic Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) feature uses AI to generate real-time, personalized challenge questions that verify signer identity before granting access to documents. Administrators can define the accuracy level required to pass authentication, set the number of allowed attempts, and control how often a signer can attempt to access the document. These controls ensure that only verified users can view and sign sensitive documents, significantly reducing fraud risk and enhancing security. SutiSign now fully supports 21 CFR Part 11, the FDA regulation that governs the use of electronic records and signatures. The online platform includes secure, time-stamped audit trails that cannot be altered, advanced authentication protocols, and reliable traceability of every action taken on a document. The platform now supports online notarization, allowing users to remotely notarize documents anytime through a trusted notary network. It also integrates with leading payment gateways like Square, Stripe, Clover, and others, enabling users to sign documents and process payments securely in a single step. With these enhancements, SutiSign continues to evolve as a robust, intelligent eSignature platform built for today's compliance-driven business landscape.
The Market Online
an hour ago
- The Market Online
Antimony stock doubles after bonanza-grade assays
Junior antimony stock Churchill Resources (TSXV:CRI) more than doubled after assaying up to 35.1 per cent antimony at its Frost Cover mine and 14.4 grams per ton of gold at its Stewart mine in samples from its Black Raven property in Newfoundland Churchill is a Canadian exploration company focused on critical minerals in Newfoundland & Labrador Churchill Resources stock has given back 41.67 per cent year-over-year and 78.13 per cent since 2020 Junior antimony stock Churchill Resources (TSXV:CRI) more than doubled after assaying up to 35.1 per cent antimony at its Frost Cover mine and 14.4 grams per ton of gold at its Stewart mine in samples from its Black Raven property in Newfoundland. According to Thursday's news release, Black Raven is located 60 kilometres northwest of Gander and about 100 kilometres north of the Beaver Brook antimony mine, which management believes to be on track for re-opening and in need of more deposits like Black Raven to feed the mill. Although Frost Cove's antimony veins and host felsic dyke have been traced over 800 metres on surface, including numerous historical samples grading over 1 per cent antimony, neither it nor the Stewart gold mine have been drilled. For a little background, antimony is a critical mineral for defense and technological applications, including in the military, battery and broader energy-storage sectors, but is currently at risk with over 90 per cent of production controlled by China and Russia, both conflict-prone nations. Churchill is keen on demonstrating Black Raven's potential as a reliable source of antimony, with upcoming summer exploration positioning it to harvest value from prices exceeding US$50,000 per ton after Chinese export restrictions in late 2024. Though prices may normalize following a China-United States trade agreement in June, antimony's long-term prospects are expected to combine rising demand with a worsening deficit, placing explorers and developers with promising assets front-and-centre to shore up global supply. Leadership insights 'These high-grade results confirm our expectations,' Paul Sobie, Churchill Resources' chief executive officer, said in a statement. 'Our antimony sampling was from the hanging wall and footwall veins in the upper historical adit at Frost Cove. Previous historical sampling returned 30 per cent antimony and 28.27 g/t gold over 0.43 metres, 320 metres south of this adit, suggesting that conditions that produced ultra-high-grade antimony concentrations may exist over an area covering multiple veins with significant lengths. These grades place Frost Cove among the highest-grade antimony projects globally. Churchill is immediately commencing its summer surface exploration program, with follow-up work at Frost Cove and Stewart through trenching and channel sampling (at surface and in the workings at Frost Cove), as well as systematic mapping and sampling of the complete mineralized package.' About Churchill Resources Churchill Resources is a Canadian exploration company focused on critical minerals in Newfoundland & Labrador. Its portfolio includes the untapped Florence Lake nickel project and Taylor Brook nickel-copper-cobalt-vanadium-titanium project. Churchill Resources stock (TSXV:CRI) is up by 133.33 per cent trading at C$0.035 as of 11:45 am ET. The stock has given back 41.67 per cent year-over-year and 78.13 per cent since 2020. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying about this junior antimony stock on the Churchill Resources Inc. Bullboard and check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Pixel Gets New Features and Android 16: Should You Hold GOOGL Stock?
Alphabet GOOGL is adding new features to Pixel, including the new VIPs widget, stickers on Gboard with Pixel Studio (using Generative AI), improved photography skills, AI-powered editing in Google Photos, and enhanced accessibility features. Android 16, which brings the new Material 3 Expressive design, is now available for Pixel users. The VIPs widget helps users to always stay connected to their friends and family, as VIP contacts can bypass the Do Not Disturb feature. Pixel users can now create stickers of anything on Gboard by just typing a prompt, choosing the right emotion and sending, without having to switch apps. Existing features like Satellite SOS are now available in Australia, which users can use for emergency services. The reorder app can now provide AI-generated summaries of a user's recordings in French and German. Users of Pixel 8 phones now have access to the Clear Voice feature. The latest features are expected to boost the shipment of the Pixel. In the United States, the launch of the Pixel 9a and the continuing popularity of the Pixel 9 series are noteworthy. Google Pixel is gaining traction in Europe, per 9TO5 Google, which cited data from Canalys. The device saw a 43% year-over-year jump, shipping close to 1 million devices in Europe in the first quarter of 2025. However, Pixel lags Apple 's AAPL iPhone 16 shipment, which, as per Counterpoint, was the top-selling smartphone brand in the first quarter of 2025. Alphabet Shares Rides on AI Innovation, Cloud Prospect Alphabet shares have jumped 11.2% in the past month, outperforming the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector's appreciation of 5.2%. GOOGL shares have outperformed Apple as well as Microsoft MSFT and Amazon AMZN, two of its closest competitors in the cloud computing domain. Per Synergy Research Group data, Amazon's share in the worldwide cloud infrastructure market amounted to 29% in the first quarter of 2025, ahead of Microsoft's Azure platform at 22% and Google Cloud at 12%. While Microsoft and Amazon shares increased 5.2% and 0.9% in the past month, respectively, Apple shares dropped 6.7%. GOOGL Stock's Performance Alphabet's focus on leveraging AI to drive growth is a key catalyst. AI is infused heavily across its offerings, including Search, Google Cloud and Pixel. Alphabet has been taking up initiatives to improve its market share in Search through AI innovations. The addition of AI mode expands AI Overview's advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities. AI Overviews is driving a more than 10% increase in usage of Google for queries that support AI Overviews in Google's biggest markets, like India and the United States. AI Overview is currently used by more than 1.5 billion people monthly. AI mode is now available in the United States. Circle to Search has been another key catalyst driving user engagement. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, Circle to Search was available on 250 million devices, with usage increasing roughly 40% during the quarter. In Cloud, Alphabet is benefiting from its partnership with NVIDIA. Google Cloud was the first cloud provider to offer NVIDIA's B200 and GB200 Blackwell GPUs and will be offering its next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs. Introduction of 2.5 flash, Imagen 3 and Veo 2 are noteworthy developments. Google Cloud is becoming a preferred choice for enterprises planning to deploy AI agents thanks to the Agent Development Kit and a low-code tool offering Agent Designer. The addition of Wiz to Google Cloud will boost competitive prowess against the likes of Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud computing space. Earnings Estimate Revisions Show Upward Trend for GOOGL The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2025 earnings is pegged at $2.12 per share, up a couple of cents over the past 60 days, indicating 12.17% year-over-year growth. The consensus mark for 2025 earnings is pegged at $9.51 per share, up 8% over the past 60 days, suggesting 18.28% year-over-year growth. GOOGL is a Risky Stock on Regulatory Headwinds Regulatory headwinds like the lawsuit between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and GOOGL over Google Search are a concern. The DOJ argues that Google has inked anticompetitive deals with Apple and other companies for prime placement of its search engine and plans to break up Google to separate products like Chrome, Search, and Android. DOJ's proposal doesn't bode well for Alphabet, given growing competition from AI-powered products like ChatGPT, Grok, DeepSeek, Perplexity and Meta AI. GOOGL is suffering from a lack of capacity, and until new capacity comes online this year, cloud revenues are expected to witness increased variability. The company expects to invest roughly $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, which is aimed at building up technical infrastructure, primarily for servers, followed by data centers and networking. Alphabet expects advertising revenue growth to be lower due to a challenging year-over-year comparison. The company enjoyed solid growth in the financial services vertical in 2024. GOOGL Stock is Overvalued The Value Score of C suggests a stretched valuation for Alphabet at this moment. Alphabet stock is trading at a premium, with a forward 12-month Price/Sales of 6.34X compared with the Zacks Internet Services industry's 5.29X. Conclusion Alphabet's growing AI capabilities and significant investments in cloud computing bode well for long-term investors. So, investors who have already invested in GOOGL stock should stay put. However, stiff competition in the cloud space, as well as the search engine market and increasing regulatory headwinds make the GOOGL stock risky in the near term. Alphabet currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), suggesting that it may be wise to wait for a more favorable entry point to start accumulating the stock. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (
