Google's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, shared an internal memo offering select employees in the global business organisation a voluntary exit with a severance package if they were not fully on board with the firm's AI-focused expansion plans.
The software giant's parent company Alphabet announced its highest-ever revenue at $400 billion in 2025.
According to a report by Business Insider, Schindler noted that the firm kicked off 2026 in a "strong position" and further stated that the AI scene was constantly growing and changing. "But the game is dynamic, the pace is electric, and the stakes are high," he said.
Google's GBO unit handles a variety of operations such as advertising products and services, along with overseeing global revenue growth.
The Google chief said that the firm only wishes to have on board employees who were "all in" with regards to its future plans and have the ability to embrace "AI to have even greater impact."
Schindler further explained that the programme was not applicable to Google's large customer sales teams situated in the US along with other customer-facing positions. "While all GBO functions are essential to our long-term strategy, we've decided not to offer VEP for these particular roles to limit as much disruption to our customers as possible," he said.
This method is similar to the buyout offers Google has put forth across its US operations, such as the previous year's offers to Android and Core engineering divisions. In November 2025, Google undertook a similar deal with a few of its employees based in the UK. The email had offered employees to avail a "voluntary exit package."
The voluntary exit approach has also been taken by other tech giants like Meta, Microsoft and Amazon who have introduced incentives to encourage employees to leave as they turn to AI-focused business models. Microsoft had also issued an ultimatum to senior executives to get behind AI or possibly leave the company.
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