Google lays off hundreds of employees, fires Fitbit co-founders amid cost cutting

Google is implementing job cuts across several teams as a cost cutting measure for the company. In the recent layoffs, the Voice Assistant team and hardware team for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit will be the most impacted.

The company said in a statement that hundreds will be laid off across hardware and engineering, while majority of the people in the augmented reality (AR) team will be let go. Hundreds of roles in the search giant's central engineering team are also being impacted, the company said.

While Google bought out Fitbit in 2021 for $2.1 billion, it continues to roll out updated versions of the Google Pixel watch, which is one of the prime competitors of Fitbit and Apple Watch.