Google is expanding its employee buyout offers to several countries as the company faces rising costs and heavy spending on artificial intelligence. The company told Reuters that it began offering voluntary exit packages in June to some employees in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
“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 move comes as rising AI spending weighs on Wall Street and Alphabet’s stock performance. Although Alphabet’s workforce has grown steadily in recent quarters, the company has been shifting resources toward strategic priorities.
Google said the program was initially introduced in select teams in 2025 and expanded to a limited number of countries in June 2026. The company described it as an option for employees who no longer feel aligned with its pace or direction.
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In Switzerland, where Google employs about 5,000 people and operates a major engineering center in Zurich, the program covered several divisions but excluded its DeepMind AI units.
Employees in Switzerland who accepted the offer began leaving in August. Applications reportedly closed in mid-July. Eligible employees were offered one month’s salary for every year of service, subject to a maximum payout of 12 months’ salary. At least four employees from one team of about 50 reportedly accepted the offer.
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 DeepMind were excluded from the buyout offers.
Last week, Microsoft offered similar buyouts to about 60,000 employees across the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.
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According to Bloomberg News, the program covers eligible employees at participating business units at the vice president level and below. Some groups, including certain data center, sales and marketing employees, are excluded.
Microsoft had 223,000 full-time employees worldwide as of June 2026, meaning roughly 27% of its workforce could be eligible for the offer. Employees who accept will reportedly receive benefits similar to those under the company’s standard severance package.
Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, said the offer gives eligible employees “who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support.”
She added that the program would give participating business units another way to adjust their workforces to changing business needs.