Alphabet Inc

Sergey Brin gifts $1.1 bn in Alphabet stock to charities after AI rally

The donation was disclosed Friday in a regulatory filing, which didn't specify who had received the more than 3.5 million shares

Google ordered to pay $425.7 mn in damages for improper smartphone snooping

A federal jury has ordered Google to pay $425.7 million for improperly snooping on people's smartphones during a nearly decade-long period of intrusions. The verdict reached Wednesday in San Francisco federal court followed a more than two-week trial in a class-action case covering about 98 million smartphones operating in the United States between July 1, 2016, through Sept 23, 2024. That means the total damages awarded in the five-year-old case works out to about $4 per device. Google had denied that it was improperly tracking the online activity of people who thought they had shielded themselves with privacy controls. The company maintained its stance even though the eight-person jury concluded Google had been spying in violation of California privacy laws. This decision misunderstands how our products work, and we will appeal it, Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said Thursday. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalisation, we honour

Google fined $36 mn for anticompetitive deals with top Australian telcos

Google has agreed to pay a 55 million Australian dollar ($36 million) fine for signing anticompetitive deals with Australia's two largest telcos that banned the installation of competing search engines on some smartphones, the US tech giant and Australia's competition watchdog said. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement it had commenced proceedings in the Australian Federal Court on Monday against the Singapore-based Google Asia Pacific division. The court will decide whether the AU$50 million ($36 million) penalty is appropriate. Under the anticompetitive agreements, which were in place for 15 months until March 2021, Telstra and Optus only pre-installed Google Search on Android phones sold to customers. Other search engines were excluded. In return, the telcos received a share of the advertisement revenue Google generated from those customers. Google accepted that the agreements were likely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition,

Google, justice dept face off in climactic showdown in search monopoly case

Google will return to federal court Friday to fend off the US Justice Department's attempt to topple its internet empire at the same time it's navigating a pivotal shift to artificial intelligence that could undercut its power. The legal and technological threats facing Google are among the key issues that will be dissected during the closing arguments of a legal proceeding that will determine the changes imposed upon the company in the wake of its dominant search engine being declared as an illegal monopoly by US District Judge Amit Mehta last year. Brandishing evidence presented during a recent three-week stretch of hearings, Justice Department lawyers will attempt to persuade Mehta to order a radical shake-up that includes a ban on Google paying to lock its search engine in as the default on smart devices and an order requiring the company to sell its Chrome browser. Google lawyers are expected to assert only minor concessions are needed, especially as the upheaval triggered by .

Google's Alphabet sees profit jump 28% in Q1 despite legal, trade threats

Google's profits soared 28 per cent in this year's opening quarter, overcoming the competitive and legal threats that its internet empire is facing amid an economy roiled by a global trade war. The numbers released Thursday by Google parent Alphabet Inc. indicated the company is rising to the challenge so far, but investors are likely to remain concerned about the turbulent times ahead. The Mountain View, California, company earned USD 26.5 billion, or USD 2.15 per share, during the January-March period, up from USD 20.7 billion, or USD 1.64 per share, at the same time last year. Revenue rose 12 per cent from last year to USD 96.5 billion. The results easily exceeded analysts' projections, according to FactSet Research. Alphabet's stock gained more than 3 per cent in extended trading after the numbers came out. The shares had fallen by 16 per cent since the end of last year. Google's first-quarter performance illustrated the continuing power of its long-dominant search engine in a

Alphabet may shift Pixel production to India amid US tariffs on Vietnam

Alphabet is considering moving part of its Pixel phone manufacturing from Vietnam to India to serve US markets, as tariffs make Vietnam less competitive

Google parent Alphabet in talks to buy cyber firm Wiz for $33 billion

The deal, which may be announced as soon as Tuesday, would be Alphabet's largest acquisition to date, and could help Alphabet's Google catch up with Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc

Alphabet, CEO Sundar Pichai get House GOP subpoena on alleged censorship

Biden administration officials said those posts contained dangerous misinformation, but Republicans have argued it was an attempt to censor conservatives' speech

Alphabet's Google cuts less than 100 employees in its cloud division

The retrenchment comes in the wake of slower growth from Google's cloud business, as well as massive spending aimed at supporting the tech giant's ambitions in AI

Google's AI previews erode internet, US edtech firm Chegg says in lawsuit

Chegg is now considering a sale or take-private transaction as a result, the company's CEO Nathan Schultz said on Monday

Indonesia fines Google $12.4 mn for anti-competitive play billing practices

Indonesia joins India, Russia and the European Union, who have all imposed significant fines on the tech giant for alleged unfair competitive business practices

Apple seeks to defend Google's billion-dollar payments in search case

Prosecutors will seek to show Google must take several measures, including selling its Chrome web browser and potentially its Android operating system, to restore competition in online search

Google's biggest bet is AI for search, says investment chief Ruth Porat

Applying artificial intelligence to the search business that made Google a household name remains the largest gambit for the company, CIO Ruth Porat said

Google seeks to undo Fortnite-maker Epic Games antitrust win over App Store

Google said in a filing Wednesday that US District Judge James Donato's ruling is mistaken and asked that the outcome of the long-running litigation be set aside

Google's Chrome worth up to $20 billion if judge orders business sale

Antitrust officials, along with states that have joined the case, also plan to recommend Wednesday that federal judge Amit Mehta impose data licensing requirements

Byju's US units wrongly stripped of education app, says federal judge

Dorsey ordered Apple to return ownership of the apps to the US units. A lawyer for an Indian firm that had been wrongly given ownership of the apps unsuccessfully tried to persuade Dorsey

Russia fines Google an incredible $2.5 decillion for YouTube's media ban

A total of 17 Russian television channels, including state-affiliated outlets, have filed legal suits against Google after it began blocking channels in 2020

Alphabet Inc beats sales estimates in Q3 results on Google Cloud growth

As its main search business matures, Google is betting on growth from its cloud division, which supplies computing power, software and services to other companies

Malaysia investment to add $3 bn to GDP by 2030, create 26,500 jobs: Google

Digital investments have helped propel Malaysia's economy this year, with growth beating market expectations in the last two quarters and the ringgit currency becoming one of Asia's top performers

EU antitrust order to Google's adtech business unlikely for now: Report

A break-up order could come at a later stage if Google continues its anti-competitive practices, they said, pointing to a precedent setting case involving Microsoft two decades ago