Image source: Digital Trends.
Even Google is not immune to the problems faced by other tech companies. Faced with ebbing revenue growth and declining profit margins, the tech giant is slowing down on new hires and is actively seeking ways to run the company more efficiently.
In the first quarter of 2015, Google added just 1819 new employees, the least since the final quarter of 2013. Last year, the company added 2435 on average each quarter. Ruth Porat, the company's new Chief Financial Officer who joined last May, is said to be behind this effort.
Google's revenue grew just 19% last year. It was 21% in 2013, 22% in 2012 and 29% in 2011. Likewise, profit margins were only 32% last year, down from 38% in 2011.
The reason for this is increased spending in research and development, and also operating costs. As such, the company is responding by slowing down on new hires and is actively seeking ways to run more efficiently. Google's CEO Larry Page is said to be looking to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate for ideas.
This, of course, is easier said than done considering Google's vast number of products and services.
That said, Google is still growing and remains profitable, so it remains a long way from cutting jobs. However, as one analyst from Berstein Research puts it, "Google is taking the foot off the gas."
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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