Alphabet’s Verily Plans Cost Cuts Amid Pressure on Bets to Rein In Spending

livemint.com:

hedge fund with a multibillion-dollar stake in Alphabet, publicly called on the company in November to reduce spending in Other Bets by at least half. Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s chief financial officer, has kept a close watch over expenses at the Other Bets, often encouraging the companies to have more commercial discipline, said people familiar with the discussions. Alphabet said last month that Porat would move into a new role as president and chief investment officer in September, overseeing the company’s stakes in the Other Bets among other responsibilities.

Several Alphabet companies including Waymo cut staff during companywide layoffs in January that affected about 6% of employees. Waymo recently said it would also end commercial efforts in self-driving freight trucks and focus instead on passenger taxi services. The company cut its internal valuation earlier this yearand offered employee one-time stock grants to make up the difference, said people familiar with the change, which helped reduce expenses at the parent company in the second quarter.

In January, Alphabet moved AI lab DeepMind from the results of Other Bets to the parent company’s, before later merging its operations with Google’s Brain division. The change would have reduced losses in Other Bets by more than $1.4 billion last year, Alphabet disclosed in updated financial statements. Alphabet reported $2 billion in operating losses from the Other Bets this year through June, a result that partially reflected the shuffle.