Google will merge the Waze and Maps teams in an effort to streamline its business

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In an effort to streamline its business, Google will merge its Waze and Maps teams.

Over the past few months, a number of companies have made cuts or changed their corporate strategy in an effort to readjust and right ship for next year. In an effort to consolidate some of its workforce, Google will apparently merge its Geo and Waze teams to cut costs.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the company plans to merge about 500 people from the Waze team with the Google team working on Maps, Earth, and other related products and services. The publication claims that this will happen on December 9. Unfortunately, it looks like there will be some losses in the process, as Waze CEO Neha Parikh has been reported to be leaving the company after the merger.

Despite merging the teams, Google says it will keep all products separate, with Waze remaining a standalone product. While the move will reduce overlaps at the company, speaking with the source, Google said it does not plan to lay off any team members. A spokesperson said: “Google remains deeply committed to Waze’s unique brand, its beloved app, and its thriving community of volunteers and users.”

Google originally acquired Waze nearly a decade ago for the sum of $1.1 billion. Since that time, Google has kept the service running as an independent entity, with the service bringing improvements and features to the app. Waze currently has over 150 million active users, which is quite a lot, but it doesn’t even compare to Google Maps’ billion users.

This isn’t the first instance we hear of when it comes to adjustments. Previously, the company made strategic changes like shifting resources from less important projects and directing them to more pressing things like the hardware business. Perhaps the biggest shock this year has been the shutdown of its game streaming service Stadia. While the company has done its customers right by refunding hardware and game purchases through its platform, the move came as quite a surprise.

While Google hasn’t yet laid off its workforce, there have been reports that it will be doing so starting in 2023. We’ve reached out to Google for comment, but haven’t heard back yet. We will update this article if we receive a response.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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