Area 120, Google’s internal incubator responsible for products like Checks, Tables, Stack and ThreadBite, has been significantly affected by broader layoffs at Google parent company Alphabet. A spokesperson tells TechCrunch via email that most of the Area 120 team has “retired” and only three projects from the division will graduate later this year into Google’s core product areas.
The spokesman did not say which specific projects were closing or graduating. Previously, Area 120 was incubating pilot projects like the ThreadIt workplace video platform, the spectrum marketplace Orion, Stack Document Scanner and more. At any given time, he used to have around 20 projects going on, though not all of them were made public.
“Employees in the US who were affected have been notified [of layoffs at Area 120], but in other countries this process will take longer and is subject to local laws and practices,” the spokesperson added. “Our managing partner of Area 120 stay with the company.”
Area 120 was created by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in March 2016 with the goal of creating experimental apps and services that could later become established profit makers. Over the years, the division has launched a number of successful products, including the HTML5 gaming platform GameSnacks (now integrated with Google Chrome), AI-powered conversational ads platform AdLingo (which came out to Google Cloud) and video platforms Mourn Y run store (which came out to Google Search and Shopping).
Area 120 underwent a reorganization in 2021 in which the group moved into a new division of Google Labs led by Clay Bavor, where it lived alongside other prospective Google efforts related to augmented reality, virtual reality, and video conferencing. . Then came the cuts. Last September, Google canceled half of the projects in Area 120 and greatly reduced the staffing of the program.
A source previously told TechCrunch that Area 120 had fewer than 100 employees after the previous round of cuts. Google declined to confirm the number.
