San Bruno, CA – YouTube, the world’s leading video-sharing platform, has announced a voluntary exit program for some of its employees, in a bid by its parent company, Google (Alphabet), to streamline operations as the shift to AI realigns the tech industry.
The streaming giant joins a trail of other companies in the tech industry that have continued to downsize their workforce as investments into AI tools take the centre stage. Big-Tech players such as Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Salesforce have all announced plans for continued lay offs in coming days.
As part of the restructuring, YouTube introduced three product teams that will handle specific aspects of the business and report directly to CEO Neal Mohan.
The Viewer Products team will focus on the viewer experience, including improvements to Search & Discovery, accelerating growth in the Living Room, increasing engagement with strategic audiences, investing in world-class infrastructure among other roles.
The Creator & Community Products is tasked with driving creation through GenAI tools, Shorts, Live, and supporting creators of all sizes. It will also focus on building community across the platform.
Subscription Products: This team will focus on driving the growth of subscriptions across Music & Premium and OTT to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity in this space.
While the exact number of employees targeted by the voluntary exit program has not been disclosed, it is understood to be a strategic initiative designed to allow flexibility for some roles and departments, rather than a broad, mandatory reduction.
YouTube remains a core revenue driver for Alphabet, constantly innovating with features for creators and viewers, and expanding into new areas like short-form video (YouTube Shorts) and subscription services.
The restructuring was announced prior to Alphabet’s Q3 earnings reporting which revealed that YouTube ad revenue for the period was $10.26 billion, a year-over-year increase of 15%.