The Associated Press reports that Google has released “a substantial number” of its contract and temporary employees, but the exact number isn’t known.

The news isn’t a surprise; in October, Google co-founder Sergey Brin told the San Jose Mercury News that the company would reduce some of the 10,000 contractors on its payroll as a cost-cutting move. Additional reports followed in November here on Search Engine Land and CNET.

News of the layoffs comes in an SEC filing that Google cleverly submitted on paper last month, thus keeping the document out of the SEC’s online database and off of other sites that track SEC filings.

Although the filing doesn’t reveal the number of contractors laid off, it does say that Google has 24,400 employees — 4,300 of which are temporary/contract employees and interns. A Google spokesperson told the AP that the 4,300 employees mentioned in the SEC filing are “subset” of the 10,000 Brin mentioned in October.

In the SEC filing, Google also said it will continue to spend on research & development and buy other companies at a pace consistent with the past two years.

Related Topics: Google: Business Issues | Google: Employees

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. See more articles by Matt McGee