Verily Sacks 15% Via EmailVerily Sacks 15% Via Email

Verily Life Sciences, Alphabet’s health sciences unit, announced it is cutting 15%, or about 240, of its staff in a company-wide email from new CEO Stephen Gillett, who was appointed to the role as recently as Jan. 3. In the email, he informed staff of restructuring plans that will discontinue the development of Verily Value Suite and some early-stage products, including the company’s work in remote patient monitoring for heart failure and microneedles for drug delivery.

These developments will change its operating model to promote more of a “One Verily” collaboration across teams, Gillett said, and move multiple lines of business to one “centralized product organization with increasingly connected healthcare solutions.” To implement the restructuring plan, some employees are being redeployed to other teams and others laid off. The 15% cut, according to the email, is “due to discontinued programs, full control of Granular and Onduo, and redundancy in the new, centralized organization.”

Gillett noted that the restructuring will also enable the company to focus on building “a financially independent company and a thriving company culture.”

He wrote that those leaving the company will receive severance, coaching, and outplacement services, but did not provide details. Employees were notified of their laid off status through an email sent to their Verily and personal email accounts entitled “Important Update Regarding Your Role.” Those still employed received an email titled, “Your Role at Verily.”

“While communicating via email is not ideal, this was a deliberate decision, enabling us to communicate as efficiently and simultaneously as possible. We’re also taking today and the rest of the week to ensure each impacted Veep has a personal discussion with a leader and HR partner to discuss the details, answer questions, and provide support through the transition,” according to Gillett.

The email also highlighted several executive changes and the departure of Jordi Parramon, president of Verily’s devices business.

Verily is one of Google’s sister companies operating within Alphabet’s “other Bets” category. This is the first known layoff to hit the Google parent company, however, the announcement now places it with the likes of other tech giants experiencing widespread job cuts like Meta and Amazon, along with multiple medtech companies including Motus GI, Sema4, and Illumina, among others, as the likelihood of a recession continues to rise.

The company will be holding an all-hands meeting Jan. 18 to “explain the changes in more detail.”