Google expands buyouts while Wiz acquisition helps lift headcount to record levels
The company added approximately 10,000 employees in six months, even as it offered voluntary departures in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
Alphabet's Google has expanded voluntary buyout offers to employees in several countries this year as it seeks to rein in rising costs amid heavy investment in artificial intelligence, even as its overall workforce continues to grow.
The company confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that it began offering voluntary exit packages in June to some employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. The latest round of offers had not previously been reported, and Reuters could not determine how many employees have accepted them.
“In 2025, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “This past summer, in June, we expanded this program globally in a few countries to support our important work ahead.”
The buyouts come as Alphabet's growing AI spending has unsettled Wall Street and weighed on its stock price. Microsoft last week offered voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees as part of an effort to contain costs.
But Google's latest offers are taking place alongside an expansion of its workforce, rather than an overall reduction. The company's headcount reached 204,757 at the end of September 2026, an increase of approximately 10,000 employees in six months. Hiring and the acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz helped drive the increase, according to the company's third-quarter earnings results.
The figures highlight how Google is simultaneously adding employees in some areas while seeking to reshape its workforce elsewhere. The company has been directing resources toward strategic priorities, particularly artificial intelligence and cloud computing, while offering voluntary departures to employees in selected divisions.
The latest offers follow voluntary exit programs introduced last year for employees in certain divisions in the U.S. and Britain. Executives have described the program as an option for employees who no longer feel aligned with the company's pace or direction.
In at least one instance, a voluntary exit program in a division was followed by a round of layoffs.
Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi has repeatedly identified AI and cloud computing as key hiring priorities during quarterly earnings presentations. Employees in Google Cloud and its AI research unit DeepMind have been excluded from previous buyout offers.
The latest expansion appears to follow the same approach.
