Good morning. Ruth Porat had her final earnings call as CFO of Alphabet and Google on Tuesday afternoon after almost 10 years. In mid-2023, Porat was promoted to president and chief investment officer at the tech giant and will be stepping into that role full-time. On the call, she shared some reflections on being CFO and also implied that she had no plans to become a finance chief ever again in the future.
“This is my 56th and last earnings call; 37 of them at Alphabet,” Porat said on the Q2 earnings call. Before joining Alphabet as CFO in 2015, she had a 27-year career at Morgan Stanley, where she was promoted to finance chief in 2010.
“I’ve been so proud to be at Google and Alphabet as CFO and to work with some of the smartest people in the world every day,” Porat said on the call. A lot was accomplished in the last nine-plus years, and she has confidence that the progress will continue. Google’s mission of advancing technology worldwide is as relevant today as it was when she worked on its IPO, she said.
Porat, who is in the top 10 of the Coins2Day 100 Most Powerful Women in Business list, also noted that she’s not going far and is still working with CEO Sundar Pichai. Over the past 11 months, she’s worked in both the CFO role and as president and chief investment officer.
“Being CFO of one of the most important companies in the world has been the opportunity and responsibility of a lifetime,” Porat said.
She also had a message for analysts and investors: “The people on this call know that if technological advancement is not the focus of every business and government, they will be left behind.”
Porat will be succeeded by Eli Lilly and Company veteran Anat Ashkenazi taking on the role of CFO and SVP of Google and Alphabet, the company announced in June. Pichai also acknowledged that it was Porat’s final earnings call. He thanked her for all she has done for the company as its longest-serving CFO. Pichai is looking forward to welcoming Ashkenazi next week, he added. “You’ll hear from her on our call next quarter,” he said.
Artificial intelligence efforts are starting to really boost the tech giant’s balance sheet. In the quarter ended June 30, revenues were $84.7 billion, up 14%, year over year; and net income rose to $23.6 billion, up 28.6%, beating estimates. Google Search remained the largest contributor to revenue growth. Google Cloud segment revenues were $10.3 billion for the quarter, up 29%. It was the first time the segment exceeded $10 billion in quarterly revenues and $1 billion in operating profit. Sales, excluding partner payouts, were $71.36 billion.
“Google’s growth and evolution over the last 25 years has been an incredible story,” and the company’s “opportunity for impact is greater than ever,” Ashkenazi said in a statement in June. It’s now her job as CFO to help continue this growth, as Porat works nearby on the same goal by securing global investments.
Sheryl Estrada
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Leaderboard
Akhil Shrivastava was promoted to EVP and CFO at The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL), effective Nov. 1. Shrivastava succeeds Tracey T. Travis, whose intention to retire was announced on July 11. Travis will remain at the company for a transition period until June 30, 2025. Since joining ELC in 2015, Akhil has held several senior finance roles within the company. He was recently named ELC’s SVP and corporate controller. Before that, he was SVP and treasurer. Akhil will also serve as a member of several of ELC’s senior management leadership groups.
Helen Shan was promoted to CFO at FactSet (NYSE: FDS) (NASDAQ: FDS), a global financial digital platform, effective immediately. Shan succeeds Linda Huber, who is leaving the company. Huber’s departure is not the result of any disagreement with the company and not the result of any financial or accounting matters, according to FactSet. Shan is rotating back into the CFO role, which she previously held from 2018 to 2021 before being appointed EVP and chief revenue officer.
Big Deal
A new report from Redfin, a technology-powered real estate brokerage, finds U.S. Home prices rose 0.2% in June, the smallest month-over-month increase since January 2023. Prices in June were still up 6.9% from a year earlier, but it's the lowest annual growth since January.
“Even though price growth has been slowing down, falling mortgage rates and lower-than-usual inventory levels are likely to keep prices ticking up in the coming months,” Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari, said in a statement. “The Redfin Home Price Index has only fallen twice in its 12-year history—in August and September 2022, when mortgage rates and inventory spiked significantly. Those things are unlikely to happen this year.”
Going deeper
Who Benefits in the Deal Between Reddit and OpenAI?Is a new report in Wharton’s business journal. Wharton marketing professor Pinar Yildirim, who studies social media and its influence on society, said the partnership, which allows OpenAI to train ChatGPT on content created by Redditors, is likely to be a boon for both companies.
Overheard
“I think we're trying to rise above politics and make this really about consumer choice.”
—General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson told Yahoo Finance in an interview on Tuesday when asked about electric vehicles being a politicized talking point amid the U.S. Presidential race.
