Good morning. Anat Ashkenazi, CFO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is investing big in AI infrastructure, but supporting other bets, like autonomous vehicle development, is also on her agenda.
In a fireside chat during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday, Ashkenazi discussed Waymo, an Alphabet company that develops self-driving technology and ride-hailing services. Waymo is run by co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov.
“What’s actually happening is an increase in investments that goes towards Waymo,” Ashkenazi said. The company is making strategic choices within its “Other Bets” category, which includes Waymo, she said.
“We have a tremendous opportunity here—phenomenal autonomous vehicles that can be used in a variety of ways,” Ashkenazi said. “So scaling that up rapidly, getting to more markets, getting more vehicles, is critical.”
She added: “I do think Waymo is a really, really interesting opportunity…It could be the future of transportation.”
As of Tuesday, Austin riders can now be matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle on the Uber app. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an X post on Feb. 27, that Waymo is serving more than 200,000 paid robotaxi rides each week, based on operations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Now that Austin is on the map, Atlanta and Miami are set to be the next cities.
Waymo had its first public trials of autonomous vehicles in Phoenix in 2017 and rolled out a full commercial service in 2018, Coins2Day reported. The startup raised $5.6 billion from investors in October, its largest-ever funding round. It was led by Alphabet, with continued participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price.
Waymo has also raised outside investment in 2020 ($2.25 billion) and in 2021 ($2.5 billion). As of October, it is valued at over $45 billion, Bloomberg reported.
Last July, Alphabet (No. 8 in the Coins2Day 500) pledged to invest $5 billion over several years to help the startup build its autonomous driving technology. Waymo hasn’t yet reached profitability.
Pichai has referred to Waymo as the “clear technical leader within the autonomous vehicle industry.” During Alphabet’s earnings call on Feb. 4, he said the company is developing a sixth-generation Waymo driver, which will “significantly lower hardware costs.”
However, some consumers haven’t yet warmed up to autonomous vehicles. Just 25% of Americans would prefer a robo-taxi to traditional rideshare, according to a study by JW Surety Bonds released in January, Coins2Day reported. And Waymo has had some glitches. A customer recently told Coins2Day his self-driving taxi drove him around in circles.
During Tuesday’s discussion, Ashkenazi also mentioned Alphabet subsidiary Isomorphic Labs, an AI-powered drug discovery firm, is also one of the company’s other bets. “Isomorphic has two large partnerships, one with Lilly, one with Novartis,” she said. Ashkenazi, who joined Alphabet in July, is the former CFO of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company.
She’s often asked, “Why did you move from a very iconic health care company to another company?” Ashkenazi said on Tuesday. “And I think about it as really an opportunity to serve as CFO of probably two of the most impressive American companies,” she said.
SherylEstrada
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Coins2Day 500 Power Moves
Stewart Glendinning was appointed CFO of Dollar Tree Inc. (No. 143), effective March 30. Glendinning joined Dollar Tree earlier this year in a senior role focused on enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, including areas within the company’s finance organization. Before joining Dollar Tree, he served as CEO of Express, Inc., and held global CFO roles at Tyson Foods and Molson Coors Brewing Company. Glendinning will succeed Jeff Davis, who previously announced plans to step down. Davis will remain at Dollar Tree for a transition period.
Every Friday morning, the weekly Coins2Day 500 Power Moves column tracks Coins2Day 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.
More notable moves
Melissa Hahn was promoted to CFO of Ames Watson, a private equity holding company. Hahn joined Ames Watson in 2023 as VP of finance. She previously held roles at Campbell's Company, Deloitte, and Grant Thornton, where she specialized in corporate accounting, finance transformation, and audit.
Jennifer Phipps was promoted CFO of BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: BTSG), a pharmacy and health services provider, effective March 4. Phipps will succeed Jim Mattingly, currently chief financial officer. Phipps currently serves as chief accounting officer and principal accounting officer, as well as CFO of BrightSpring’s Home Health and Hospice segment.
Big Deal
The global professional association ISACA’s Tech Workplace and Culture survey provides some insight into the retention of technology professionals. The respondents cite the top reasons for leaving a job: a desire for higher compensation (seen most among those under 35, at 43% for this group); to improve career prospects; and wanting more interesting work.
Another finding is that tech professionals cite the biggest career obstacles as not having an upward career path (30%), limited career opportunities (24%), and lack of mentors (19%).
The findings are based on a survey of 7,726 technology professionals.
Going deeper
“Rethink Job Design to Attract and Retain Women,” is a new Gallup workplace report. In a series of recent surveys, the analytics and advisory company explored the employment preferences of women, and how building sustainable labor pools requires companies to face the realities of women’s lives and responsibilities.
Overheard
“As an administration, you’re kind of playing with fire here.”
—George Cipolloni, portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management, told Reuters. President Trump has warned tariffs may bring short-term pain but said it would eventually revive manufacturing and increase growth. However, investors are concerned that weakening consumer confidence could put pressure on stocks and strain the economy.