Google is cutting its marketing budget by as much as half for the remainder of 2020, and implementing hiring freezes, CNBC first reported and Business Insider has independently confirmed.
The company has told marketing employees that it is slashing budgets and is reportedly introducing a hiring freeze for both full-time and contract employees.
“There are budget cuts and hiring freezes happening across marketing and across Google,” read one message sent from a global director to employees, according to CNBC. “We, along with the rest of marketing, have been asked to cut our budget by about half for H2.”
Google also started telling some interviewees already in the job pipeline that their jobs have been cut, according to a source speaking to Business Insider.
Google told Business Insider in a statement: “As we outlined last week, we are re-evaluating the pace of our investment plans for the remainder of 2020 and will focus on a select number of important marketing efforts. We continue to have a robust marketing budget, particularly in digital, in many business areas.”
A Google spokesperson added that the company was slowing its hiring, but said a freeze wasn’t happening across the entire company. They did not elaborate on whether certain departments would still be freezing.
A source close to the matter who works outside of Google’s marketing division told Business Insider they were aware of marketing cuts, but hadn’t yet been informed of a freeze in their department.
Still, any freeze would be a more drastic step than Google suggested it was making, when it told employees last week that it would merely slow down hiring, as it continued to weather the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are reevaluating the pace of our investment plans for the remainder of 2020,” wrote CEO Sundar Pichai in last week’s memo. “That starts with taking a more critical look at the pace of hiring for the rest of the year.”
