San Francisco, June 28: Google acquired the mapping service app Waze for approximately $1.3 billion in 2013. Now, it has initiated layoffs at the firm.

The Waze currently has over 500 employees. The new layoffs will affect staff related to Waze Ads monetization in sales, marketing, operations, and analytics. Layoffs in Meta: Facebook Parent To Begin Another Round of Mass Sackings This Week, 4,000 High-Skilled Employees To Be Laid Off.

Google has been integrating Waze features into its own map products. It also plans to transition Waze ads management to the Global Business Organization (GBO).

“In order to create a better, more seamless long-term experience for Waze advertisers, we’ve begun transitioning Waze’s existing advertising system to Google Ads technology. As part of this update, we’ve reduced those roles focused on Waze Ads monetization and are providing employees with mobility resources and severance options in accordance with local requirements," Caroline Bourdeau, Waze’s head of PR, said in a statement to The Verge.

Recently, the head of Google's maps division Geo, Chris Phillips announced changes in Waze's ads monetization. Google plans to align Waze's ads management with Google Maps.

"In order to create a better, more seamless long-term experience for Waze advertisers, we've begun transitioning Waze's existing advertising system to Google Ads technology. As part of this update, we've reduced those roles focused on Waze Ads monetization," Google said in a statement to Reuters.

The Google Geo division includes services like Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View. Waze remained independent from Google Maps till 2021.

The new layoffs are part of a growing trend of scaling down the operations in tech companies. Earlier this year, Alphabet (Google's parent company) announced that it would be laying off 12,000 employees, amounting to 6 per cent of its workforce.

So far, the exact number of job cuts at Waze has not been disclosed. Amazon Layoffs: E-Commerce Giant To Reduce Employee Stock Awards in 2025 After Mass Sacking.

The Waze app uses crowdsourcing to offer the fastest driving routes and real-time traffic information. It is very popular in the US and has around 140 million active users.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 28, 2023 09:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).