Business & Finance

Google Expands Voluntary Buyout to Five Countries Amid AI Spending Push

By Ankita Garg

Google has broadened its voluntary buyout program to five countries, offering severance packages to employees as it seeks to control costs while increasing investment in artificial intelligence. The expansion, announced in June, now covers teams in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. The company has not disclosed how many employees have accepted the offer. A spokesperson confirmed the rollout, noting that similar programs were introduced in some teams earlier in 2025 before being extended to additional countries.

The offers are not available across all parts of Google’s business. DeepMind, the AI research division, and Google Cloud are excluded, reflecting areas where the company plans to hire more staff to strengthen its AI and cloud operations. Alphabet, Google’s parent, has been raising its AI spending, creating pressure to manage expenses while pursuing growth.

In Switzerland, where the program began in June, employees who accepted the offer started leaving in August. The country hosts about 5,000 Google employees and a major engineering centre in Zurich. The exit package provides one month’s salary for each year of service, capped at 12 months. At least four people from a team of roughly 50 employees have reportedly taken the offer.

Microsoft has also announced a voluntary buyout that could affect around 60,000 employees in the US, Canada, India and the UK. Eligible employees at level 70 or below, about 27 percent of Microsoft’s 223,000‑strong workforce, can accept the offer and leave by the end of December. Microsoft’s program follows earlier initiatives, including a voluntary retirement program in April and a round of job cuts affecting 4,800 employees in July.

The move comes as technology companies reassess workforce needs amid rising AI‑related expenses.