Ireland Limits Planned Trade Ban on Israeli Settlements to Goods Only 
Gold Prices Hold Firm as Markets Await Fed Rate Cut; Silver Surges to Record High 
SpaceX Edges Toward Landmark IPO as Elon Musk Confirms Plans 
Japan Weighs New Tax Breaks to Boost Corporate Investment Amid Spending Debate 
Fed Rate Cut Signals Balance Between Inflation and Jobs, Says Mary Daly 
Modi and Trump Hold Phone Call as India Seeks Relief From U.S. Tariffs Over Russian Oil Trade 
Air Transat Reaches Tentative Agreement With Pilots, Avoids Strike and Restores Normal Operations 
Trello Outage Disrupts Users as Access Issues Hit Atlassian’s Work Management Platform 
Australia’s Labour Market Weakens as November Employment Drops Sharply 
Gold Prices Dip as Markets Absorb Dovish Fed Outlook; Silver Eases After Record High 
CVS Health Signals Strong 2026 Profit Outlook Amid Turnaround Progress 
GameStop Misses Q3 Revenue Estimates as Digital Shift Pressures Growth 
Global Markets Slide as Tech Stocks Sink, Yields Rise, and AI Concerns Deepen 
Mizuho Raises Broadcom Price Target to $450 on Surging AI Chip Demand 
Samsung SDI Secures Major LFP Battery Supply Deal in the U.S. 
Asian Stocks Rally as Tech Rebounds, China Lags on Nvidia Competition Concerns 
Google is reportedly planning to merge the mapping team of Waze and its own group that is managing the Maps product. The tech firm came up with this plan as it faces pressure to cut costs and simplify its operations.
In a new update, The Wall Street Journal reported that the merge already started on Friday, Dec. 9. Google brought more than 500 employees of Waze to its Geo organization that supervises Google Maps, Earth, and Street View products. The company’s spokeswoman said that the staff of Waze and the company’s mapping service will now start to work together.
As a result of this change, Waze’s current chief executive officer, Neha Parikh, is stepping down from her post. Then again, despite the combining of employees, Google told WSJ that Waze would remain a standalone service.
The best part of the plan is that Google is not considering layoffs even with this reorganization move. However, it was suggested that even though the company is not expecting job terminations, it may still happen due to the economic situation. In fact, many big tech firms are announcing job cuts these days, saying that these decisions are unavoidable.
The combining of Google Maps and Waze employees is a step that will consolidate business processes thus, it will lower costs. It was in 2013 when Alphabet Inc. acquired Waze for $1 billion. It has 151 million monthly active users around the world today, as per Reuters.
"By bringing the Waze team into Geo's portfolio of real-world mapping products, the teams will benefit from further increased technical collaboration," Google’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Meanwhile, it turned out that even before this reorganization, Alphabet’s chief executive officer, Sundar Pichai, has already been discussing about the consolidation of its investments that are overlapping. To solve this, he said that they would work on simplifying the organization, which would also increase the work efficiency of the employees.
Photo by: Brett Jordan/Unsplash
