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Wiz has walked away from a $23 billion deal to be acquired by Google, in what would have been the search giant's largest-ever deal, telling employees it would pursue an initial public offering as it initially planned. The deal would have nearly doubled the $12 billion valuation of the startup from its most recent round of funding. Alphabet's cloud segment has been under pressure to grow amid competition from frontrunners Microsoft and Amazon, something the Wiz deal would have helped with. The shift benefited Wiz, which can flag security issues for applications and data on the Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle public clouds. In an interview with CNBC's Sara Eisen and Carl Quintanilla at the New York Stock Exchange last year, Eisen asked Rappaport if he wants to take the startup public.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Wiz, Assaf Rappaport, Rappaport, Thomas Kurian, Brendan Burke, It's, Doug Leone, Covid, Sid Trivedi, CNBC's Sara Eisen, Carl Quintanilla, Eisen Organizations: Alphabet Inc, Government, Society, Google, CNBC, Microsoft, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia, PitchBook, Intuit, Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Wiz's, Wiz, Oracle, Foundation Capital, Motorola, Lenovo, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Stanford , California, Sequoia

☆ Alphabet moves past early stumbles in AI to deliver positive story to investors
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Strong numbers in the company's search and cloud businesses more than offset the slight misses in the YouTube and network units. Cloud recorded a couple of big firsts: exceeding $10 billion in revenue, along with $1 billion in operating income. Whereas investors were — and many still are — concerned about what generative AI might mean for Alphabet's search revenue, the opposite appears to be the case, at least for now. Google Cloud revenue grew roughly 28% to more than $10 billion for the first time. Strong numbers in the company's search and cloud businesses more than offset the slight misses in the YouTube and network units.

Persons: we're, capex, Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Philipp Schindler, Schindler, Ruth Porat, Eli Lilly, Anat Ashkenazi, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Loren Elliott Organizations: YouTube, Microsoft, Club, Nvidia, Lens, CTV, Nielsen, Google, buybacks, CNBC, Government, Society, Calif, Bloomberg, Getty, Meta Locations: That's, U.S, Stanford

Read previewFormer President Donald Trump said the Federal Reserve should not cut interest rates before the presidential election, according to an interview he did with Bloomberg Businessweek. The Federal Open Market Committee has two interest rate decisions scheduled before the election in July and September. "I think it's past time for them to cut interest rates," Zandi said. During a February interview with Fox News, Trump accused Powell of being "political" and planning interest rate cuts to coincide with the election. "I think he's going to do something to probably help the Democrats, I think, if he lowers interest rates," Trump said, adding that "it looks to me like he's trying to lower interest rates for the sake of maybe getting people elected."

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Trump, Jerome Powell, Mark Zandi, Powell, Zandi, Claudia Sahm, Sahm, he's Organizations: Service, Federal Reserve, Bloomberg Businessweek, Business, Democratic, Federal, Reserve, Banking, Housing, Urban Affairs, Fed, New Century Advisors, Fox News, Stanford's Business, Government, Society, Trump, Wall Street

☆ Google reportedly in advanced talks to acquire cyber startup Wiz for $23 billion, its largest-ever deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Google is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity firm Wiz for $23 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. It had been eyeing an IPO as recently as May, when the company achieved a valuation of $12 billion. Google has made large cyber acquisitions before: The company acquired cybersecurity firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion two years ago. But its reported talks with Wiz would suggest that the company has developed a fresh appetite for M&A, competitive concerns notwithstanding. Google had been in talks to acquire sales software maker Hubspot, CNBC previously reported, but its pursuit had reportedly cooled.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Wiz, Assaf Rappaport Organizations: Alphabet Inc, Government, Society, Google, Street, Wiz, Ventures, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, CNBC Locations: Stanford , California

☆ Google employees question execs over 'decline in morale' after blowout earnings
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

"How does leadership plan to address these concerns and regain the trust, morale and cohesion that have been foundational to our company's success?" "Despite the company's stellar performance and record earnings, many Googlers have not received meaningful compensation increases" a top-rated employee question read. Google's use of cashThere were a lot of employee questions ahead of last week's meeting directed at the company's buyback, Porat said. With respect to the decline in morale brought up by employees, Pichai said "leadership has a lot of responsibility here, adding that "it's an iterative process." CNBC reported last week that Google is laying off at least 200 employees from its "Core" organization, which includes key teams and engineering talent.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Loren Elliott, Ruth Porat, We've, Alphabet's, Hollie Adams, Porat, Prabhakar Raghavan, dory, Pichai, Ted, Larry Page, Jim Cramer Organizations: Inc, Government, Society, Bloomberg, Getty, Google, Economic, Finance, CNBC Locations: Stanford , California, Davos, Switzerland, U.S

☆ Google lays off hundreds of 'Core' employees, moves some positions to India and Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Just ahead of its blowout first-quarter earnings report on April 25, Google laid off at least 200 employees from its "Core" teams, in a reorganization that will include moving some roles to India and Mexico, CNBC has learned. The Core unit is responsible for building the technical foundation behind the company's flagship products and for protecting users' online safety, according to Google's website. Core teams include key technical units from information technology, its Python developer team, technical infrastructure, security foundation, app platforms, core developers, and various engineering roles. Many Core teams will hire corresponding roles in Mexico and India, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. Asim Husain, vice president of Google Developer Ecosystem, announced news of the layoffs to his team in an email last week.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Asim Husain, Husain, Ruth Porat, Prabhakar Raghavan Organizations: Inc, Government, Society, Google, CNBC, Mexico City, U.S Locations: Stanford , California, India, Mexico, Sunnyvale , California, Bangalore, Brazil

☆ Tech's earnings bonanza this week shines spotlight on growing troubles at Tesla, Google
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesAs tech's behemoths get set to report earnings this week, they do so facing a mountain of drama. Tesla kicks off tech earnings season after the close of trading on Tuesday, with shares of the electric vehicle maker trading at their lowest since January 2023. When it comes to AI, Meta debuted its assistant — Meta AI — on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger last week. Loren Elliott | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesOn a busy Thursday for tech earnings, Alphabet is likely to capture the most attention. On Thursday, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced a consolidation of the company's AI teams, including responsible AI and related research teams, under the Google DeepMind umbrella.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Justin Sullivan, tech's behemoths, Tesla, Microsoft's, Lip, CNBC's, we've, Brandon Bell, Drew Baglino, Rohan Patel, Musk, John Murphy, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Wall, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Joe Biden, Republican Donald Trump, Loren Elliott, Ruth Porat, Thomas Kurian's, livestreamed, Pichai, that's, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, chatbot, MSFT Organizations: Inc, Government, Society, Google, Big Tech, Nvidia, BakerAvenue Wealth Management, Tech, Meta, Microsoft, Getty, Elon Musk's EV, Bank of America, Reality Labs, Facebook, Republican, Bloomberg, CNBC, Google Cloud, Union, Apple, Guggenheim Locations: Stanford , California, Austin , Texas, New York, Sunnyvale , California, Sunnyvale, Seattle, San Francisco , California, OpenAI, Mistral, U.S

☆ Ad transparency tools are 'major disappointment' ahead of election, new study shows
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

That's according to research out Tuesday from Mozilla and CheckFirst, which concludes that leading tech platforms are lagging in their ad transparency tools. None of the results were great, and some were "a major disappointment," according to the researchers. "This is now no longer something that's voluntary," Claire Pershan, EU advocacy lead at Mozilla, told CNBC. It's troubling news as the major platforms prepare for a huge year of elections that affect upward of 4 billion people in more than 40 countries. Lesplingart told CNBC that users had to know the advertiser name, targeted country and date of the advertisement in order to export to an ad file.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Microsoft's Bing, Claire Pershan, Amaury Lesplingart, CheckFirst, Josh Becker, Lesplingart, Bing, Alibaba's, Zalando, Booking.com, TikTok, it's, we'd Organizations: Inc, Government, Society, Mozilla, Google, LinkedIn, Union's Digital Services, CNBC, Democratic, X, European Commission, DSA, Meta, YouTube Locations: Stanford , California, U.S, Meta, California

☆ Watch Fed Chair Powell speak live at Stanford policy conference economic forum
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks Wednesday to the Stanford Business, Government and Society forum. But he also said the timing isn't certain and policymakers need more evidence that inflation is moving toward the Fed's 2% goal. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said Wednesday he thinks there could be just one cut this year, though his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee have indicated three. Markets expect the Fed to start down the path of easing in June or July, with a total of three cuts coming by the end of 2024.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Powell, Raphael Bostic, Bostic, Steve Eisman Organizations: Stanford Business, Government, Society, Atlanta Fed, Federal, Read, Fed, CNBC, YouTube

☆ The Fed's timing for interest rate cuts won't have anything to do with the presidential election, Powell says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it's still too soon to feel confident in cutting interest rates. But he emphasized that the timing for any rate cuts will not have anything to do with the election. The discussion comes after the Fed maintained its interest rate level in its most recent decision in March. While the Federal Open Market Committee forecast three interest rate cuts in December, Powell said on Wednesday that it'll take more data for the Fed to feel confident enough to implement that relief. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: Jerome Powell, it's, Trump, Powell, —, Sundhar Pinchai Organizations: Service, Federal Reserve, Stanford's Business, Government, Society Forum, Google, Fed, Federal, Business

☆ Fed's Powell emphasizes need for more evidence that inflation is easing before cutting rates
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jerome Powell speaks during the Stanford Business, Government and Society Forum at Stanford University on April 03, 2024 in Stanford, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesFederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday it will take a while for policymakers to evaluate the current state of inflation, keeping the timing of potential interest rate cuts uncertain. "We do not expect that it will be appropriate to lower our policy rate until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2 percent," he added. "Recent readings on both job gains and inflation have come in higher than expected," Powell said. The uncertainty about rates has caused some consternation in markets, with stocks falling sharply earlier this week as Treasury yields moved higher.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Justin Sullivan, Powell, Raphael Bostic, Mary Daly, Cleveland's Loretta Mester Organizations: Bank, Stanford Business, Government, Society, Stanford University, Getty, Federal, Market, Atlanta Fed, CNBC, San Francisco Fed, Group Locations: Stanford , California

☆ Steve Eisman says the Fed shouldn't cut rates, risks creating a stock market bubble if it does
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

If the Federal Reserve follows through on plans to lower interest rates it could lead to a stock market bubble, in the view of Neuberger Berman portfolio manager Steve Eisman. The central bank last month penciled in three potential quarter percentage point rate cuts by the end of 2023, along with multiple other cuts coming in future years. I personally think there should be no Fed cuts this year," he said during an interview on CNBC's " Squawk Box ." My actual fear is that if the Fed were actually to cut rates, the market becomes bubblicious and then we have a real problem. Markets in fact have grown nervous this week as hopes have waned for rate cuts.

Persons: Neuberger Berman, Steve Eisman, Jerome Powell, Eisman, Powell Organizations: Federal, Institute for Supply Management, Stanford Business, Government, Society, Labor Department, Fed

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