The Verily website is displayed on a laptop in a stacked photo taken in Arlington, Virginia on Thursday, May 7, 2020.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In an email to employees on Wednesday, Verily CEO Stephen Gillett said the corporate would lay off 15% of its staff as a part of the restructuring because it seeks financial independence from its parent company. Alphabet. About 240 people will be affected by the cuts, a Verily spokesman confirmed.
Verily, which makes a speciality of health sciences, is certainly one of Google’s sister corporations, operating under Alphabet’s “Other Bets” category.
That is the primary known layoff to hit parent company Google after a wave of industry layoffs and recession fears. Although Google has thus far avoided widespread job cuts which have affected other tech corporations like Meta, employees have begun to fret about whether or not they may be next, CNBC reports.
Gillett’s email instructed staff to earn a living from home for the rest of the week as Verily’s physical offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday. “Those that are within the office today can now go home,” it said, specifying that the instruction also applies to employees who work in Google offices.
A few of Verily’s projects have included a contact lens that may detect diabetes symptoms, which was placed on hold in 2018, and Project Baseline, an try to aggregate health data with research organizations. It also provided a Covid-19 testing platform, as highlighted by former President Trump at the start of the pandemic.
A few of Alphabet’s other bets include its own equity structure, chief financial officer Ruth Porat explained in 2019, and Verily has been raising money from outside investors for several years. In 2017, Verily accepted $800 million of external capital from Singapore’s Temasek and has since raised over $2 billion in several consecutive capital rounds.
Gillett said the cuts reflected discontinued shows and team “redundancy,” in line with emails viewed by CNBC. It says it will offer severance and outplacement services “in the approaching weeks and months”, but has not given details yet.
Gillett’s memo said it will be “downsizing or phasing out” some parts of the business while increasing investment in others. Specifically, Verily will discontinue some early-stage products, including “distant patient monitoring for heart failure and microneedles for drug delivery,” the e-mail states. “We won’t do every thing and needed to make some tough decisions,” Gillett wrote. The e-mail said the corporate would hold an all-employee meeting on January 18 to elucidate the changes in additional detail.
Gillett’s memo also details several executive changes and the departure of Jordi Parramon, president of Verily’s appliance division, who has been with the corporate “since its beginnings.”
The memo said the corporate would notify laid-off employees via an email sent to their Verily and private emails titled “Essential Update Regarding Your Role.” Those that still have a job will receive an email titled “Your role at Verily.” Those working outside the US will hear from their business leaders on Wednesday or Thursday, the memo said.
“While email communication will not be perfect, it was a well thought-out decision to permit us to speak as efficiently and concurrently as possible. Today and the remainder of the week are also dedicated to making sure that every affected Veep has a private conversation with the lead and HR to debate details, answer questions and supply support in the course of the transition,” the memo reads.
“Going to the subsequent chapter of Verily, we’re doubling our focus with ultimate motion across all areas of Precision Health,” the memo stated. “We will do that by constructing a database and evidence that bridges the gap between research and care. We will also give attention to constructing a financially independent company and a thriving company culture.”
Alphabet and Verily declined to comment further.