Google sacks 48 employees over sexual harassment

Google has sacked 48 people including 13 senior managers over sexual harassment claims since 2016.

In a letter to employees, chief executive Sundar Pichai said the tech giant was taking a"hard line" on inappropriate conduct.

The letter was in response to a New York Times report that Andy Rubin, creator of Android mobile software, received a $US90m exit package despite facing misconduct allegations.

A spokesman for Rubin, who left the company in 2014, denied misconduct, the newspaper said.

Rubin left the company in 2014. He was given what the paper described as a "hero's farewell".

Pichai's letter said the New York Times story was "difficult to read" and that Google was "dead serious" about providing a "safe and inclusive workplace".

"We want to assure you that we review every single complaint about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct, we investigate and we take action," it continued.

According to the New York Times report, two unnamed Google executives said then-chief executive Larry Page asked Rubin to resign after the company confirmed a complaint by a female employee about a sexual encounter in a hotel room in 2013.

A Google investigation found the woman's complaint to be credible, the paper reported, but the company has not confirmed this.

Rubin has said he did not engage in misconduct and left Google of his own accord.

The claims will add to the growing chorus denouncing sexist culture in male-dominated Silicon Valley.

Shares in Alphabet, which owns Google, fell more than 3% in New York after it reported revenues of $US33.7bn for the three months to September - slightly less than analysts had expected.

However, net profit soared $US2.5bn to $US9.2bn - far higher than expected.