Inside Google’s Quiet Rebuild: Changes Outpace AI Hype | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Something is shifting at Google, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) main growth engine. And it’s not the kind of change you’d expect from a news release or splashy keynote.

Google seems to be everywhere right now — launching Gemini models, investing heavily in cloud and infrastructure, and driving the AI race. Investors sense the momentum, but beneath the flashy $85 billion expenditure headlines, a more subtle transformation is taking place.

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Inside Google, the breakneck pace of innovation is forcing a rethink — not in products, but in how the company runs itself. The changes aren’t fancy, but they cut deep: org charts, decision loops, and the way one of the internet’s biggest builders organizes its people.

At a recent all-hands meeting, executives outlined a leaner structure with fewer management layers, slimmer spans of control, and voluntary buyouts across teams. The aim: Speed up decisions, strip out overhead, and hand routine work to Google’s own AI tools.

Google People Analytics Vice President Brian Welle signaled an intentional flattening of Google’s org chart, saying:

“We want [leaders] to be a smaller percentage of our overall workforce.”

It began as a gentle recalibration. Then the speed increased. Employees are now experiencing the effects — some subtle, some more blatant.

What does Google look like when it is pushed to be leaner, think sharper, and let go of the layers on which it previously relied?

Turns out, the corporation has already responded to that question, and most investors haven’t noticed.

Company leadership is in focus as Google balances record capex with a leaner operating model.

Image source&colon; Boris Streubel/Getty Images

A silent shift is underway at Google: Here’s what employees just learned

Inside Google, one word keeps coming up: efficiency.

Brian Welle told staff that Google now has “35% fewer managers, with fewer direct reports” than it did a year ago. The cuts target managers with fewer than three reports, streamlining layers that slow things down.

It’s not just about structure. It’s about giving employees a real choice — and many are taking it.

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Executives said 10 different units have now deployed voluntary buyout packages. Teams in search, marketing, and hardware are seeing 3% to 5% opt-in.

“This has been actually quite successful,” said Fiona Cicconi, Google’s Chief People Officer.

What’s pushing them out? Time.

“It’s people sort of wanting a career break,” she said.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai called the shift “a lot of work,” but worth it. “I’m glad we’ve done it,” he said.

As AI bets surge, Google quietly rewires what’s inside

Google is ramping up its AI push with bigger checks and sharper execution. Alphabet raised its capital spending forecast to $85 billion this year, up from $75 billion, to fuel data centers, semiconductors, and AI systems.

That investment is paying off. In Q2 2025, sales rose 14% year over year to $96.4 billion, driven by strong gains in Google Cloud, Search, and AI-powered products. Cloud revenue jumped 32% to $13.6 billion on demand for generative AI.

Morgan Stanley estimates AI could add $13 trillion to $16 trillion in S&P 500 value, producing nearly $1 trillion in annual benefits through higher margins and new revenue streams.

To keep pace, Google is expanding physical infrastructure — $9 billion in Virginia through 2026 and another $9 billion in Oklahoma — with new campuses and expansions underway. It’s also scaling TPU v5p chips, Axion CPUs, and its AI Hypercomputer software to cut training times.

Internally, the company is slimming down. Leadership layers are shrinking, hiring is tighter, and efficiency is the watchword, with employees already seeing the shift in culture at recent staff meetings.