Google offers voluntary exits in five new countries—excluding AI and cloud teams
Google has opened voluntary exit packages to employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. The programme still excludes Google Cloud and DeepMind, where the company keeps hiring engineers and researchers. Past buyouts in Switzerland were followed by layoffs, and Microsoft has just rolled out a similar scheme for 60,000 workers.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Google has expanded its voluntary exit program to Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland since June.
- The program excludes Google Cloud and DeepMind, where Google is still hiring.
- Employees who leave receive one month’s pay per year worked, capped at one year’s salary.
- In Switzerland, Google offered buyouts in mid-June; the first departures happened in August.
- Google cut over 200 Swiss jobs in 2023, sparking protests.
- Last week Microsoft offered buyouts to 60,000 staff, while Alphabet sold €6 billion in bonds.
Voluntary exits now open in five more countries
Google has begun offering voluntary exit packages to staff in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland, widening a programme it first ran in the US and UK. A company spokesperson confirmed the expansion to Reuters but did not say how many employees have accepted the offers.
Buyouts skip Google Cloud and DeepMind
Google Cloud and DeepMind remain exempt from the buyouts. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi told investors the company will keep hiring in AI and cloud, and Google Cloud revenue doubled in the last quarter alone.
Workers who take the offer receive one month’s salary for each year they have worked, up to a maximum of one year’s pay. Internal messages describe it as a chance for employees who no longer fit Google’s direction, yet leaders have also called it a restructuring measure.
How Switzerland’s buyouts played out—and why workers worry
Switzerland gives the clearest preview of how the programme works. With 5,000 employees, mostly engineers, the country was told about the buyouts in mid-June. Google promised answers by mid-July, and the first departures came in August. In one 50-person team, at least four accepted.
Switzerland has also seen sharp conflict over job cuts before. In 2023 Google laid off more than 200 staff there, prompting protests and a walkout. Unions warned the new buyouts could be followed by involuntary redundancies again.
Microsoft and Alphabet follow suit
Google is not alone. Microsoft started offering buyouts to 60,000 employees last week, while Alphabet returned to the bond market this week with a €6 billion sale. Observers say the cash will help fund AI and cloud projects, the same areas Google continues to protect from cuts.
What Google Cloud’s expansion means for rivals
Google Cloud recently launched a borderless lakehouse and new AI tools, reinforcing its push into enterprise AI. Earlier reporting revealed how GPU inefficiencies inside Google Cloud can inflate costs; those upgrades are meant to remove such bottlenecks.
What this means
Lazyfounder analysis — our interpretation, not reported fact.
Google is cutting costs in teams outside its cloud and AI divisions, where it keeps hiring. Startups selling to Google may face slower deals in restructured units, while those competing with Google Cloud could see Alphabet use its fresh €6 billion bond sale to push harder into AI data-stack upgrades.
Key takeaways
- Google is shielding its cloud and AI teams from buyouts while asking other employees to leave voluntarily—yet last year’s Swiss exits were followed by layoffs, showing the offers aren’t risk-free.
- Microsoft’s 60,000 buyouts and Alphabet’s €6 billion bond sale signal the whole industry is shifting cash into AI and cloud at the expense of other projects.
- Google’s Zurich hub, home to 5,000 engineers, could see lower morale or resignations, opening doors for startups hunting niche technical talent.
- Startup founders should expect longer sales cycles in any Google division marked for restructuring.
Related on Lazyfounder
Sources
- The Next Web · 2026-11-04
Google offers buyouts to staff in five more countries, Reuters reports
This story is an original summary drafted with AI by Lazyfounder from the reporting listed above and checked by automated validation. Facts are attributed to their original publishers; sections marked as analysis are Lazyfounder's. Where a source is in another language, facts were machine-translated and quotations are reported, not reproduced. Read the original coverage via the links, and see our AI policy and corrections policy.
About the author
Editor, Lazyfounder
Tarun Mottlia edits LazyFounders, covering Indian startups, funding rounds, AI and product launches. Every story on the site is AI-assisted and checked against its cited sources before publication.
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