Latest news with #AnatAshkenazi
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Google Expands Buyouts In Search And Ads Division As AI Reshapes Priorities
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Alphabet, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google on Tuesday offered buyouts to U.S.-based employees in multiple departments, including the search ads unit. The Details: The company extended the voluntary exit program to workers in several divisions, according to CNBC. Impacted teams include knowledge and information (K&I), central engineering, marketing, research and communications. K&I, which oversees Google's search, ads and commerce operations, has roughly 20,000 staff. Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — In its most recent quarterly report, Alphabet disclosed that Google Search and related services generated $50.7 billion of the company's total revenue of $90.23 billion. When including all advertising streams—such as Search, YouTube ads and Google Network—the total advertising revenue reached $66.89 billion for the quarter, underscoring how central these business lines remain to Google's overall financial performance. The latest buyouts follow previous headcount reductions dating back to 2023. CNBC reported that finance chief Anat Ashkenazi previously cited cost-cutting as a key priority amid rising AI infrastructure spending. Google has also implemented return-to-office requirements for some remote employees living within 50 miles of a company location. A memo from K&I chief Nick Fox encouraged employees who are disengaged or underperforming to consider the exit package. However, he urged those excited by their roles and aligned with the company's goals to stay. Earlier this year, similar buyouts were offered in the "Platforms and Devices" and "People Operations" units. Google is also shifting internal training resources toward practical AI tools and away from less essential programs, CNBC It Matters: Ongoing cost-cutting efforts at Google underscore the company's broader strategy to reallocate resources toward artificial intelligence infrastructure. In February, Google planned voluntary buyouts in its People Operations division beginning in March. Some mid to senior-level staff were offered 14 weeks of severance plus an additional week for each year of service. The company also laid off operations support employees in its cloud unit, with some roles relocated to India and Mexico City. Despite this shift, the memo stated the U.S. would remain the cloud team's largest hub. These cuts came after Ashkenazi said cost discipline would be key as AI-related demand outpaced infrastructure capacity. She noted the company ended 2024 with "more demand than we had available capacity" for its AI products. Google's cloud division grew revenue by 30% year over year in Q4. Google continues to position cloud and AI initiatives as central to its 2025 investment priorities. Read Next: In terms of getting money back, these bank accounts put traditional checking and savings accounts to shame. Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down taxes: Schedule your free call with a financial advisor to start your financial journey – no cost, no obligation. Image: Shutterstock This article Google Expands Buyouts In Search And Ads Division As AI Reshapes Priorities originally appeared on Sign in to access your portfolio
India Today
2 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Google starts teaching employees how to use AI to better align with new business priorities
Google is updating its employee training programmes to focus almost entirely on artificial intelligence (AI). The company has revamped its wide-ranging internal education platform, Grow, with AI-related content to help employees integrate modern tools into their everyday work. The transformation is reportedly part of Google's effort to align internal learning with core business to CNBC, Google has overhauled its decade-old Grow platform to reflect the company's new AI-first strategy. The platform was previously known for its eclectic mix of courses, ranging from personal finance to 3D printing and even Rubik's Cube solving for Googlers. The report suggests that employees who had signed up for non-AI courses were informed earlier this year that those sessions would be cancelled and have an active learning culture with numerous in-house courses tied to company priorities, along with generous educational reimbursement,' a Google spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. 'We're refreshing Grow to help employees find the most relevant learning opportunities.' The change in learning content also signals a broader shift in Google's internal priorities. Grow, Google's online career training platform, once featured 500,000 course listings and was viewed as a valuable benefit. However, now Google believes many of these courses are now 'not relevant to the work we do today,' according to an internal memo sent to course creators. Only sessions aligned with 'business priorities' will remain available, says Google. Programmes that don't contribute directly to the bottom line are being phased AI-focused transformation is also seen as part of broader cost-cutting efforts. Over the past year, Google has laid off thousands of employees across several departments and slashed benefits, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes—moves driven partly by internal efficiency goals and external political pressures. Anat Ashkenazi, the Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet (Google's parent company), had previously stated that the company could 'push a little further' on cost reductions. Ashkenazi during her debut in the earnings call last year said 'there is an aggressive roadmap ahead for 2025.' With AI now at the centre of its product development—from Search to Workspace and Cloud—Google's internal operations are reportedly being realigned accordingly.
CNBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Google overhauls internal learning platform to focus on AI, 'business priorities'
Google is overhauling a popular internal learning platform to focus on teaching employees how to use modern artificial intelligence tools in their daily work routines, CNBC has learned. Grow, as the learning service is called, was previously filled with a wide array of courses, ranging from teaching Google employees how to build products, use 3D printers, help with their personal finance or even how to solve a Rubik's cube. Those offerings have all been replaced primarily by AI-related courses. The revamp underscores how companies, both within and outside of tech, are racing to train their employees on the advanced AI tools that have been created since OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 ushered in the age of generative AI. Employees with previously scheduled Grow sessions were notified in the spring that the sessions they signed up for would be cancelled and that course materials would be archived, according to internal correspondence viewed by CNBC. Grow, which was started more than 10 years ago, had grown to more than 500,000 listings before the AI shakeup. Grow is popular among employees and is considered to be one of the unique perks of working at Google, according to sources and an internal discussion forum. "We have an active learning culture with numerous in-house courses tied to company priorities, along with generous educational reimbursement," a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "Our internal course offerings have ballooned since we launched it ten years ago, and we're refreshing Grow to help employees find the most relevant learning opportunities." The move to overhaul Grow shows that Google is shifting away from some of its nice-to-have programs to more business-essential offerings as it streamlines operations to prioritize AI. As the company fights to retain its relevance in search amid a heated AI arms race, it has streamlined operations, headcount and employee benefits. Google has enacted rolling layoffs within several units across the company, particularly after finance chief Anat Ashkenazi's said last fall that the company could "push a little further" on cost cuts. Google, like many other tech giants, has also rolled back programs like its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, trainings amid business streamlining as well as from President Trump's executive orders. In a memo sent out to employees who had created Grow courses, Google leaders wrote that many of the platform's "courses were unused," and "not relevant to the work we do today," according to an internal message. "Those that orgs have confirmed are up-to-date and focused on business priorities will still be available," wrote Google's people operations staff. Employees commented on an internal forum that the use of "focused on business priorities" reiterated a sign of the times — Google is primarily focused on programs that contribute to the bottom line.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI Enlists Google Cloud for Computing Capacity in Partnership of AI Rivals, Report Says
OpenAI has finalized a deal with Google to secure more computing capacity to train its AI models, Reuters reported. The deal comes despite competition between the companies' ChatGPT and Gemini large language models. Google selling capacity to OpenAI potentially reduces its own capacity even as overall cloud demand has outpaced the company's supply, Google's CFO said in has reportedly turned to one of its biggest competitors in the AI arms race to support the training of its ChatGPT models. The ChatGPT developer has finalized a deal to utilize Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google cloud services to meet its increasing need for computing capacity, Reuters reported. The agreement would effectively provide OpenAI with more chips for the development of ChatGPT. The agreement comes despite fierce competition between ChatGPT and Google's Gemini large language model. Last month, Google introduced an 'AI Mode' search feature that lets users ask questions in conversation with Gemini, a move that addresses the popularity of LLMs in how people get their information. Google selling capacity to OpenAI potentially reduces its own even as cloud demand has outpaced the company's supply, Alphabet CFO Anat Ashkenazi said in April. OpenAI previously relied exclusively on its partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) for its computing capacity, but the companies in January moved to a mode where Microsoft instead has right of first refusal on new OpenAI compute. Microsoft declined to comment on the Reuters report. OpenAI and Google did not immediately respond to Investopedia requests for comment. Shares of Alphabet gained 2% in recent trading. The stock has fallen about 5% in 2025. Read the original article on Investopedia Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Big Tech CEOs are saying about their massive AI spending plans
Another Big Tech earnings week has wrapped. It gave us fresh signs of what major players in the AI space are willing to spend to get ahead. Here's a look at which Big Tech companies look more cautious and which look more bullish on AI spending. A slew of Big Tech companies reported quarterly earnings this week, and with those earnings, some progress reports on the tens of billions of dollars they're funneling into AI. Some Big Tech companies are showing signs of reining in AI spending while others are plowing full steam ahead. Cumulatively, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon plan to spend more than $300 billion this year, much of which will be on AI. Apple has also said it plans to spend $500 billion over the next four years. Here's a look at where some of the biggest players stand: Google parent company Alphabet estimates $75 billion in capital expenditures for 2025, largely for data centers and server capacity for AI. This is well above the consensus estimate of $57.9 billion and represents an increase of about 43% year-over-year. "We are confident about the opportunities ahead, and to accelerate our progress, we expect to invest approximately $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025," CEO Sundar Pichai said in a February earnings release. "We expect to increase our investments in capital expenditure for technical infrastructure, primarily for servers, followed by data centers and networking," CFO Anat Ashkenazi said during the company's earnings call that month. First-quarter capex was $17.2 billion for the company, which is breaking ground for several new data centers to support its AI work, including Google Search AI overview and the Gemini chatbot. Amazon previously said it expects increased capital expenditures this year of $100 billion, largely for AI, particularly for the company's AWS cloud computing division. In Amazon's Q1 earnings Thursday, the company reported capex of $24.3 billion, up more than 70% year-over-year. CEO Andy Jassy added AWS has seen an "explosion of coding agents." Jassy said on a third-quarter earnings call last year that the massive investment was justified because AI is "a really unusually large, maybe once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity." "I think that both our business, our customers and shareholders will be happy, medium to long-term, that we're pursuing the capital opportunity and the business opportunity in AI," he said. In its recent Q1 earnings, Meta raised its full-year capex estimate from a range of $60 to $65 billion to $64 to $72 billion now. The change "reflects additional data center investments to support our artificial intelligence efforts as well as an increase in the expected cost of infrastructure hardware," the company said in its earnings report. This is a marked increase from the company's 2024 capex of $39.23 billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off his remarks in Meta's Q1 earnings call by talking about AI being "the major theme" at Meta right now that's "transforming everything we do." Zuckerberg noted these are "long-term investments that are downstream from us," but said the company "will be wildly happy with the investments that we are making." Microsoft is showing signs it may not remain as bullish on AI spending as some of its peers. CFO Amy Hood said on the Q1 earnings call Wednesday that the company expects capex to grow in the coming fiscal year, but noted, "it will grow at a lower rate than FY 2025 and will include a greater mix of short lived assets, which are more directly correlated to revenue than long lived assets." The company has said before that it expects capex of $80 billion in fiscal year 2025 in order to "build out AI-enabled datacenters to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications around the world." More than half of the investment will be in the US. Earlier this month, Noelle Walsh, the head of Microsoft cloud operations, said the company "may strategically pace our plans." "In recent years, demand for our cloud and AI services grew more than we could have ever anticipated and to meet this opportunity, we began executing the largest and most ambitious infrastructure scaling project in our history," she wrote in a LinkedIn post. "By nature, any significant new endeavor at this size and scale requires agility and refinement as we learn and grow with our customers. What this means is that we are slowing or pausing some early-stage projects," she continued. On February, Apple announced its biggest spend commitment in the company's history, for $500 billion in the US over four years toward AI initiatives, manufacturing, and silicon engineering, among other expenses. "We're going to be expanding our teams and our facilities in several states, including Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington," CEO Tim Cook said in the company's Q1 earnings call Thursday. "And we're going to be opening a new factory for advanced server manufacturing in Texas." Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
