Google parent company Alphabet has revealed it will slash 12,000 jobs, becoming the latest tech giant to axe staff numbers amid a slowdown in the world economy.
The cuts, representing about 6pc of its global workforce, were revealed in an email to staff by chief executive Sundar Pichai.
He said he takes "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here".
Mr Pichai told staff: "Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth.
"To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
The job cuts at Alphabet follow huge job losses at fellow Silicon Valley giants.
Facebook owner Meta cut more than 11,000 jobs in November, while Amazon revealed this month it was laying off 18,000.
Twitter has sacked more than 3,000 people since Elon Musk took over the social network in a $44bn (£36bn) deal in October.
Oil pushes toward second weekly gain
Oil is headed for a second weekly gain as optimism over stronger Chinese demand overshadowed a weaker outlook in other major economies.Brent crude, the international benchmark, has risen 0.6pc today towards $87, having gained 9.6pc over the last fortnight.West Texas Intermediate has risen 0.7pc close to $81 a barrel, putting the US benchmark on course for a gain of almost 1pc this week and 8.9pc over the last two weeks. Chinese consumption has been picking up after the world's top crude importer abandoned harsh Covid restrictions, with signs of increased buying by refiners in the physical market.Still, weakness elsewhere has limited the rally. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde vowed monetary policy would remain tight as inflation is still too high. In the US, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said rates will need to stay elevated for "some time".
Harry and Meghan becomes second most successful Netflix documentary ever
Netflix has announced the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's recent series, Harry & Meghan, which revealed behind the scenes details of royal life as its second-highest ranked documentary ever.The series began its release on Dec 8, in the lead-up to the publication of the duke's memoir, Spare, and saw damaging claims levelled at the royal family throughout six episodes.Netflix reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday and disclosed a gain of 7.7 million subscribers during the October-December period, a stretch that included the debut of an ad-supported option for seven dollars (£5.65) per month.