Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is on the hunt for cost savings, and the company’s Other Bets decision is feeling the squeeze from incoming President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat, according to reports.
That division consists of businesses that operate entirely separately from Google, such as its self-driving car operation Waymo and it healthcare division Verily Life Sciences. Pressure is on for those entities to turn a commercial profit, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.
Verily, for its part, plans to implement additional expense cuts after losing more money than expected this year. That comes after Alphabet said earlier this year that it would cut 12,000 jobs from Verily, the robotics software company Intrinsic and more within Other Bets.
The new demands on Other Bets is seemingly connected to Porat taking on the newly created position of president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google on September 1.
Porat will have direct oversight over the division and has made “commercial discipline” a major priority, according to reports.
“The promotion of CFO Ruth Porat to President and CIO [Chief Investment Officer]…could bring greater scrutiny to ‘Other Bets’ and enhance cash return,” analysts at Melius Research wrote in a recent research note.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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