Google CEO Sundar Pichai Reacts On Ex Employees Joining Rivals, Says ‘Some Will Come Back’

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has reportedly said that former employees of the tech giant have created a staggering 2,000 startups, and he sees this development positively. Google faced a significant employee reduction earlier this year, and a portion of its workforce joined rival companies, including OpenAI, the organisation behind the introduction of ChatGPT.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Pichai said that former Google employees who left the company in the past, have created 2,000 startups and he admires this positively.

Pichai believes that some ex-Googlers will come back to the company and some of these startups will eventually become their cloud customers. Pichai feels that the competition is healthy.

Pichai said, “Googlers have left to create over 2,000 startups, last I counted, and I think that’s great. Some of them are cloud customers down the line for us. Some of them come back. I think it’s healthy.”

When Pichai was asked about the number of layoffs and whether Google is satisfied with its cost-cutting measures, Pichai didn’t say much about it. He said, “Our work toward sharpening our focus—I view it as enduring work. We are constantly trying to make the company more efficient.”

In January, Google announced laying off 12,000 workers, as the economic boom that the industry rode during the Covid-19 pandemic ebbs.

In an email to the employees, Pichai had said that: “The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.”

Pichai had said that the company has hired for ‘periods of dramatic growth’ over the past two years but that was a ‘different economic reality than the one we face today.’ He said the layoffs reflect a ‘rigorous review’ that Google carried out of product areas and functions.