Activist investor TCI to Google CEO Sundar Pichai: Cut headcount and trim costs

Google parent Alphabet Inc has been asked to reduce headcount and scale back expenses by investor TCI Fund Management Ltd. The London-based hedge fund, TCI, is owned by billionaire Christopher Hohn. In an open letter to Google-parent Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai, activist investor has urged the company to make hard choices. Management should publicly set a target for profit margins, increase share buybacks and reduce losses in its portfolio of Other Bets — the company’s long-shot projects, TCI managing director Chris Hohn says. Here are key excerpts from the open letter as it appears on TCI website:

Headcount is too high
“Our conversations with former executives of Alphabet suggest that the business could be operated more effectively with significantly fewer employees,” Hohn writes.