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$800M to support small businesses and crisis response

151 points by theBashShell 7y ago

thedance 7y ago
It's ridiculous that Google has to front a glove and mask company the working capital and donate the product to the CDC. That's what the government is supposed to do. The federal government should be providing interest-free working capital and guaranteeing the sale of every glove and mask anyone can produce.
- yingw787 7y ago
  I hope the confluence of this administration, plus this pandemic resulting in this piss-poor federal response, is something we'll never see again in our lifetimes. I'm really glad somebody is stepping up to the plate in the meantime. Every bit counts.
- hueving 7y ago
  >It's ridiculous that Google has to It doesn't have to. This is a choice Google is making on how it wants to conduct charity. >The federal government should be providing interest-free working capital and guaranteeing the sale of every glove and mask Sale at what price? It has to be bounded or else it sounds ripe for fraud (people are monsters). > anyone can produce. So is the loan for anyone that wants it? Or just for companies that have proven they can make gloves and masks? If the former, what stops people from just using the loan to fund salaries while making a ritual display of making masks for a few months and then declaring bankruptcy after collecting salaries during that time?
  - blackguardx 7y ago
    I think you are misunderstanding the parent's point. The basic gist is that any glove, mask, and ventilator manufacturer should at the very least get immediate working capital loans/grants from the government to expand production. Guaranteeing the sale means that the manufacturer will assume no risk for overproduction. The price would be whatever the prevailing market price was before the crisis or maybe with a slight premium. In essence, the government should remove all business risk for manufacturers of needed equipment.
    - kortilla 7y ago
      What makes you think this is not already the case?
  - AaronFriel 7y ago
    The government can, in an emergency like this, set prices. They could set prices at the previous price for bulk PPE and order companies to fulfill it and if they refuse, eminent domain them and sell them to someone who will. As much as this will annoy civil libertarians, the powers of the state are vast and in emergencies should be used to protect people when justifiable and without harming people. The takings clause will ensure that whatever companies are affected will be monetarily compensated and they have recourse through our courts.
  - thedance 7y ago
    Oh gosh you're right, I hadn't and nobody else had thought of setting a sensible price before you mentioned it. Thanks for saving the country, internet person! Look, it's pretty simple. You send a Major General and their staff to every factory that has ever shipped a box of nitrile gloves. You tell them that you will buy, at 150% the normal wholesale price, every glove they can produce for the next year. You provide them with a blank check to buy inputs and secure a labor force. If there is an input they can't get you put the General on the phone with another one who is sitting at the oil refinery or the paper mill or whatever. Civil defense is 99% logistics. If you can't use your gigantic military apparatus to make stuff, it's useless.
  - throwaway_USD 7y ago
    >This is a choice Google is making on how it wants to conduct charity. Maybe they should choose not to maximize tax avoidance instead.
- swalsh 7y ago
  I have at times worried this crisis could be used to cement our transition to a Corporatocacy. There has been a huge number of roles that the government SHOULD be performing in at least a partnership that appear to be simply being fulfilled by private corporations. On one hand, while i'm glad to see some real leadership, I worry about the long term ramifications.
- samstave 7y ago
  How much in taxes has Google avoided over the years??? Thats the actual funding the Government was Already supposed to have (and then be responsible for using correctly) to do this. So, in my opinion, the Government (read: the fucking citizens of the country) should demand fealty payments from ALL the companies that were under-paying taxes. All companies, who are considered "corp=people" should be taken to task and be required to PAY rather than get a bailout. Have you noticed the marketing push by Verizon of late? That company, for whom Ajit is their mole in the .gov, should be just nationalized and turned over. (obviously, this then means that its a 100% surveillance company... so that must be weighed)
- tinalumfoil 7y ago
  The House just passed a two trillion dollar relief bill. That's almost 3 times the entire value of alphabet. And much of that's going to obtaining medical supplies. What are you talking about?
  - throwaway_USD 7y ago
    >The House just passed a two trillion dollar relief bill. My understanding is it is $6T, with $4T going to the Fed so the bankers can make money with it...
    - kortilla 7y ago
      2010 called, it wants its memes back.
      - throwaway_USD 7y ago
        What does that even mean? Is anything I said funny or incorrect?
        kortilla 7y ago
        “so the bankers can make money” is a vapid statement ringing back to occupy Wall Street. That’s not what the money is for, not will it particularly help bankers anymore than it will help every person with a money market account, a mortgage, or a job at a corporation that uses loans.
        throwaway_USD 7y ago
        $4T is going to the Federal Reserve...up to $1,200 will be going directly to taxpayers, to put the ratio in perspective, if the money was all going to taxpayers directly each taxpayer would be getting over $18,000, instead they will get $1,200. You are saying it will help every person with a mortgage or job at a corporation that uses loans...which simply means it will help the loan/mortgage holders and services which helps the banks.
treyfitty 7y ago
Google is helping small businesses by providing Ad credits? Of all things a small business may need, Google thinks Ads are the solution? The response to this crisis has my cynicism and disdain for our system growing every day.
- ocdtrekkie 7y ago
  If all you have is a hammer... Realistically, apart from G Suite access for remote work, they don't actually have much to offer. That being said, Google ad spend is a huge chunk of marketing budgets, so it probably will help the overall bottom line of these businesses a fair bit.
  - izacus 7y ago
    And GSuite limits for several services have already been lifted to Enterprise levels for all accounts in the previous week.
    - ocdtrekkie 7y ago
      Indeed. That's been pretty common industry-wide for online collaboration and conferencing tools.
- hueving 7y ago
  Yep, ad money has suddenly dried up and auction prices have plummeted so might as well give away the ad credits to inflate the auction prices allowing both a higher tax deduction and better looking performance.
  - ryanmercer 7y ago
    You're being downvoted but it wouldn't surprise me if this was discussed while they were coming up with this. While I highly doubt it is their main motivation, I'm sure they've acknowledged it as a benefit.
  - adrianmonk 7y ago
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
heinrichhartman 7y ago
This is NOT funding: - $250 million in ad grants ... - $340 million in Google Ads credits ... - A pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits ... A company that has a Bazillion $ in the bank, has means to really make a difference. This is not. Edit/Clarification: The original title was: "$800M funding and grants to support ..". Now they changed it. I take issue with the claim of providing funding, and all they offer is free ADs. I appreciate that Google is doing _something_. I don't think they have to. I don't think that free ADs is a thing that people need right now.
- onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
  Why does a company with a Bazillion dollars in the bank need to be a charity? If we agree that's the case, we should tax companies more. If not, what's the problem?
  - danans 7y ago
    I tend to agree with you (and I'm a Googler), but good luck passing that tax legislation in the next few days. This emergency is now. There will be plenty of time to evaluate the degree to which our country has disabled and defunded government institutions, leaving us vulnerable in this sort of crisis - but first we have to get to the other side of the crisis. We should acknowledge the fact that these corporations are acting now, while keeping the perspective that the cash they are spending isn't in government coffers to spend on this pandemic in part because of the low corporate taxes.
  - oh_sigh 7y ago
    Do you think you would get better services or obviate the need for corporate charity if the US government had an extra 10% revenue?
  - heinrichhartman 7y ago
    They don't have to. There is no problem. I am glad they are doing something. However, if you come forward and pledge to provide "800 Million funding and grants" and all you get is Google Ad credits, that's disingenuous.
hienyimba 7y ago
If Google wants to help small businesses, they should start by stopping their practice of defrauding it's Adsense publishers. $30k MRR gone overnight alongside $40k already earned in Adsense income siezed by Google. All this happened early this month of March, effectively crippling our ability to take care of employees and survive the Covid-19 crisis. Such hypocrisy.
- judge2020 7y ago
  In an attempt to cut its own cost, Google effectively automates everything, even in terms of detecting abuse (eg. clickjacking or click fraud) and advertisements that go against their rules (I think even in terms of mentioning Covid-19 in ads since I haven't seen any ads mentioning anything about "virus"/"covid"/etc at all this month). I wouldn't doubt you got hit by this automated system. Maybe you should write a blog on this.
  - hienyimba 7y ago
    You would think that by making them so much money (they take 40% of income), you would be entitled to speak to a human. We have always followed their guidelines and just appealed to them but from researching others who have had similar issues, I'm assured that is a big black hole.
    - londons_explore 7y ago
      Even if you could talk to them, they wouldn't be able to tell you what you did wrong. If they did tell you what you did wrong, you could figure out what the rules in their spam detecton system was and game the system, and their losses from you or anyone gaming their adspam detection system are far greater than loosing a few false positive customers. Sux for you, but works great for them.
orasis 7y ago
The $340 million in Google Ads credits is self serving bullcrap. They are going to flood their ad markets with credits so that they can keep CPMs inflated so that the real advertisers have to continue paying inflated prices.
- humanbeinc 7y ago
  This! Although one could argue for inflationary effects, Google keeps prices stable and that is their main concern here
neiman 7y ago
Lol they offer free ads because there's a financial crisis, they probably lost of customers and they're trying to attract new ones. Fine. I offer free ads for 3 months worth 1B$ in my website, can I use it now for PR as well?:-)
- quirmian 7y ago
  Of course you can. Does your website get the kind of traffic google does?
- guacamole4 7y ago
  Do you actually currently make $1B in ads over 3 months then and will be giving away that revenue, or are you lying to score points online?
- compiler-guy 7y ago
  This offer only goes to accounts that have been active in the past year, so it is not a play for new accounts.
- stubish 7y ago
  Trick is, nobody is buying ads at the moment because nobody is spending on advertised products. So demand is way down, which means the value of the ads is also way down. By donating half a billion dollars worth of ads at today's rate, they generate half a billion dollars worth of demand and keep the price pumped up. If the numbers work out the right way, they might even be turning a profit by giving ads away.
dessant 7y ago
I think Google could afford to spend a couple billions more to fund the manufacturing and distribution of masks and ventillators, instead of announcing a support package with the bulk in ad credits. Also, Google employs some of the best marketers on the planet, they should be showing ads for how to wear masks correctly and for practical safety guidelines, and leverage everything they've learned about human psychology to disperse information that could save lives. That's what it means to actually want to do something, not just pretend with ad credits that ultimately boost your own business. Right now I'm getting an ad for Milka chocolate as I watch news videos about the pandemic on YouTube, instead of being offered a chance to learn how to safely disinfect groceries. Google does not need to give out ad credits to WHO to be able to run public safety ads today across all AdSense sites. They have the money and the talent to spin up a massive public safety campaign within days.
- glouwbug 7y ago
  True, but wouldn't that incentivize people to seek out masks when the already short supply is needed for the health care workers?
- izacus 7y ago
  Did you miss the last bullet point? > Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices. We’re working with our longtime supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety, with the goal of ramping up production of 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks that will be provided to the CDC Foundation. Additionally, employees from across Alphabet, including Google, Verily and X, are bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.
  - dessant 7y ago
    Google has announced a $800+ billion support package for small businesses and crisis response, $810 billion of that are ad credits and an investment fund for small businesses. There is certainly more that Google could do to fund the manufacturing and distribution of life-saving equipment, even if they do mention it in the last bullet point, without clarifying the amount of financial support.
Donald 7y ago
I assume the free ad credits are to stave off cratering their own CPM market's bid prices? Conflating that funding with grants for assisting with COVID-19 responses is extremely disingenuous.
- compiler-guy 7y ago
  Except that they aren't conflating the two. They call out each individually.
onetimemanytime 7y ago
Nordstrom too, is offering 20% off any purchase of $1200 or more to help Americans weather this crisis. (joke)
guacamole4 7y ago
The vitriol in this thread is appalling. These grants are hugely helpful for many small businesses including mine.
blunderkid 7y ago
Very magnanimous of big G! Obliging us with virtual trinkets that cost them nothing when most of us be out of jobs soon and a few really unlucky ones may die. Bet their PR department is made up of lawyers only. Complete lack of empathy and imagination. Full marks for greed and being clever by half. Let’s see if other companies in valley follow their “lead” in hand waving or actually do something that matters.
the_duke 7y ago
With all the negative press on Google, I was expecting this to be a decent PR move. Reading the announcement is somewhat sobering though. Most of it (590 million) are ad "credits" or "grants". Keep in mind that Google ad revenue in 2019 was 134 billion. > $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities. It seems odd to me that institutions are supposed to resort to advertising to be shown above all the false, misleading and inaccurate information. Is the WHO supposed to have a marketing team optimizing ad spending on Google during a pandemic to rank higher than inferior sources? There ought the be ranking mechanisms or other side channels to keep important information on top in case of a crisis. This is like fixing a leaking pipe by forcing in water from the outside. Edit: apparently all ads relating to Coronavirus have been blocked. See below. --- Small beneficial side effect: for Google: this drives up the prices a bit for pharma and other companies trying to profit with Corona related topics. > $340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. This sounds decent at first, but also seems more like a token gift on further thought. I reckon the goal here is mainly to avoid losing those customers. Many SMBs are closed, struggling, and will reduce expenses where possible. Marketing is often the easiest to cut right away, and many of those might not return anytime soon. The hardest hit businesses are those that had to close down (restaurants, shops, etc). They won't be spending money now. While a small, free marketing budget is good to have , it will also help stabilize/raise prizes more quickly once everything opens again. This way they keep those customers at least somewhat engaged and can also prop up the numbers a bit. > A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. This is certainly the most impactful. Assuming 70% of that money reaches businesses, it could amount in 14_000 loans of 10_000 each. I'd assume those to be loans though, so the fund probably won't be much of a loss in the medium term.
- summerlight 7y ago
  > Is the WHO seriously supposed to have a marketing team optimizing ad spending on Google during a pandemic so they rank higher than some "Coronavirus is a hox" article? Google recently blocked advertisements around COVID19 and related issues. Would you please at least look it up before making this kind of assumptions? https://www.blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/coronavirus-covid19-response/ https://www.blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/...
andrewpheonix 7y ago
I appreciate Google's efforts, but it's really depressing to realize how terrible we have it in the Third World and how hard or how little of these funds will trickle down to the people and orgs on the fore fronts. If I was in the US now, my company and staff would qualify for a large number of help avenues, not to even speak of grants for our work on COVID 19. Over here? The AWS bill we pay monthly has doubled...because our currency has fallen that much. I won't meet payroll on Monday because clients have paused their work and payments to us...etc Meanwhile here is all manner of funds seemingly available but just another new extra requirement out of reach. As usual, the beneficiaries will be larger orgs and their army of consultants and friends.
legitster 7y ago
I think we are are seeing the first images of how organizations are trying to fight the massive forces of deflation - no one wants to be the first to start cutting prices. You'll see companies giving away or donating more and more of their inventory or product, but I think it's inevitable that prices in certain sectors of the economy will start coming down.
baby 7y ago
I don't know why people always expect companies to do things the government should do. And when they do things that the government should do, they then say the the company could do more. It's false. The government could do more. And if they're out of money they should tax these companies more then.
- randomsearch 7y ago
  What if the people don’t support taxation, or the companies avoid it?
  - baby 7y ago
    If you don't support taxes usually you go live in exile in the middle of nowhere. If you want infrastructure, schools, firemen, police, etc. then you support taxes.
trhway 7y ago
given the lackluster situation of their Cloud, i think it would have made more sense to throw those $800M as cloud credits instead of ads.
thetanil 7y ago
Google to pay themselves 800 million, how nice for small business
pixelbath 7y ago
Meanwhile, I'm still sitting with ~$80 USD in an AdSense account that's been there for over 10 years because it's still not a large enough amount to pay out.
itsdrewmiller 7y ago
“ A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. As one example, we’re working with the Opportunity Finance Network in the U.S. to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help bridge these gaps for SMBs.” What does this really mean? Aside from the NGO stuff it sounds like it could just be taking advantage of the downturn to buy businesses?
vagab0nd 7y ago
> The ad credits will be available to small and medium businesses, who advertise ... since the beginning of 2019. Why since the beginning of 2019? If I just started a business at beginning of 2020, wouldn't I need at least equal amount of help, if not more?
cromwellian 7y ago
No good deed goes unpunished it seems.

151 points by theBashShell 7y ago

It's ridiculous that Google has to front a glove and mask company the working capital and donate the product to the CDC. That's what the government is supposed to do. The federal government should be providing interest-free working capital and guaranteeing the sale of every glove and mask anyone can produce.

yingw787 7y ago
I hope the confluence of this administration, plus this pandemic resulting in this piss-poor federal response, is something we'll never see again in our lifetimes. I'm really glad somebody is stepping up to the plate in the meantime. Every bit counts.
hueving 7y ago
>It's ridiculous that Google has to It doesn't have to. This is a choice Google is making on how it wants to conduct charity. >The federal government should be providing interest-free working capital and guaranteeing the sale of every glove and mask Sale at what price? It has to be bounded or else it sounds ripe for fraud (people are monsters). > anyone can produce. So is the loan for anyone that wants it? Or just for companies that have proven they can make gloves and masks? If the former, what stops people from just using the loan to fund salaries while making a ritual display of making masks for a few months and then declaring bankruptcy after collecting salaries during that time?
- blackguardx 7y ago
  I think you are misunderstanding the parent's point. The basic gist is that any glove, mask, and ventilator manufacturer should at the very least get immediate working capital loans/grants from the government to expand production. Guaranteeing the sale means that the manufacturer will assume no risk for overproduction. The price would be whatever the prevailing market price was before the crisis or maybe with a slight premium. In essence, the government should remove all business risk for manufacturers of needed equipment.
  - kortilla 7y ago
    What makes you think this is not already the case?
- AaronFriel 7y ago
  The government can, in an emergency like this, set prices. They could set prices at the previous price for bulk PPE and order companies to fulfill it and if they refuse, eminent domain them and sell them to someone who will. As much as this will annoy civil libertarians, the powers of the state are vast and in emergencies should be used to protect people when justifiable and without harming people. The takings clause will ensure that whatever companies are affected will be monetarily compensated and they have recourse through our courts.
- thedance 7y ago
  Oh gosh you're right, I hadn't and nobody else had thought of setting a sensible price before you mentioned it. Thanks for saving the country, internet person! Look, it's pretty simple. You send a Major General and their staff to every factory that has ever shipped a box of nitrile gloves. You tell them that you will buy, at 150% the normal wholesale price, every glove they can produce for the next year. You provide them with a blank check to buy inputs and secure a labor force. If there is an input they can't get you put the General on the phone with another one who is sitting at the oil refinery or the paper mill or whatever. Civil defense is 99% logistics. If you can't use your gigantic military apparatus to make stuff, it's useless.
- throwaway_USD 7y ago
  >This is a choice Google is making on how it wants to conduct charity. Maybe they should choose not to maximize tax avoidance instead.
swalsh 7y ago
I have at times worried this crisis could be used to cement our transition to a Corporatocacy. There has been a huge number of roles that the government SHOULD be performing in at least a partnership that appear to be simply being fulfilled by private corporations. On one hand, while i'm glad to see some real leadership, I worry about the long term ramifications.
samstave 7y ago
How much in taxes has Google avoided over the years??? Thats the actual funding the Government was Already supposed to have (and then be responsible for using correctly) to do this. So, in my opinion, the Government (read: the fucking citizens of the country) should demand fealty payments from ALL the companies that were under-paying taxes. All companies, who are considered "corp=people" should be taken to task and be required to PAY rather than get a bailout. Have you noticed the marketing push by Verizon of late? That company, for whom Ajit is their mole in the .gov, should be just nationalized and turned over. (obviously, this then means that its a 100% surveillance company... so that must be weighed)
tinalumfoil 7y ago
The House just passed a two trillion dollar relief bill. That's almost 3 times the entire value of alphabet. And much of that's going to obtaining medical supplies. What are you talking about?
- throwaway_USD 7y ago
  >The House just passed a two trillion dollar relief bill. My understanding is it is $6T, with $4T going to the Fed so the bankers can make money with it...
  - kortilla 7y ago
    2010 called, it wants its memes back.
    - throwaway_USD 7y ago
      What does that even mean? Is anything I said funny or incorrect?
      - kortilla 7y ago
        “so the bankers can make money” is a vapid statement ringing back to occupy Wall Street. That’s not what the money is for, not will it particularly help bankers anymore than it will help every person with a money market account, a mortgage, or a job at a corporation that uses loans.
        throwaway_USD 7y ago
        $4T is going to the Federal Reserve...up to $1,200 will be going directly to taxpayers, to put the ratio in perspective, if the money was all going to taxpayers directly each taxpayer would be getting over $18,000, instead they will get $1,200. You are saying it will help every person with a mortgage or job at a corporation that uses loans...which simply means it will help the loan/mortgage holders and services which helps the banks.

treyfitty 7y ago

Google is helping small businesses by providing Ad credits? Of all things a small business may need, Google thinks Ads are the solution? The response to this crisis has my cynicism and disdain for our system growing every day.

ocdtrekkie 7y ago
If all you have is a hammer... Realistically, apart from G Suite access for remote work, they don't actually have much to offer. That being said, Google ad spend is a huge chunk of marketing budgets, so it probably will help the overall bottom line of these businesses a fair bit.
- izacus 7y ago
  And GSuite limits for several services have already been lifted to Enterprise levels for all accounts in the previous week.
  - ocdtrekkie 7y ago
    Indeed. That's been pretty common industry-wide for online collaboration and conferencing tools.
hueving 7y ago
Yep, ad money has suddenly dried up and auction prices have plummeted so might as well give away the ad credits to inflate the auction prices allowing both a higher tax deduction and better looking performance.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  You're being downvoted but it wouldn't surprise me if this was discussed while they were coming up with this. While I highly doubt it is their main motivation, I'm sure they've acknowledged it as a benefit.
- adrianmonk 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

heinrichhartman 7y ago

This is NOT funding: - $250 million in ad grants ... - $340 million in Google Ads credits ... - A pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits ... A company that has a Bazillion $ in the bank, has means to really make a difference. This is not. Edit/Clarification: The original title was: "$800M funding and grants to support ..". Now they changed it. I take issue with the claim of providing funding, and all they offer is free ADs. I appreciate that Google is doing _something_. I don't think they have to. I don't think that free ADs is a thing that people need right now.

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
Why does a company with a Bazillion dollars in the bank need to be a charity? If we agree that's the case, we should tax companies more. If not, what's the problem?
- danans 7y ago
  I tend to agree with you (and I'm a Googler), but good luck passing that tax legislation in the next few days. This emergency is now. There will be plenty of time to evaluate the degree to which our country has disabled and defunded government institutions, leaving us vulnerable in this sort of crisis - but first we have to get to the other side of the crisis. We should acknowledge the fact that these corporations are acting now, while keeping the perspective that the cash they are spending isn't in government coffers to spend on this pandemic in part because of the low corporate taxes.
- oh_sigh 7y ago
  Do you think you would get better services or obviate the need for corporate charity if the US government had an extra 10% revenue?
- heinrichhartman 7y ago
  They don't have to. There is no problem. I am glad they are doing something. However, if you come forward and pledge to provide "800 Million funding and grants" and all you get is Google Ad credits, that's disingenuous.

hienyimba 7y ago

If Google wants to help small businesses, they should start by stopping their practice of defrauding it's Adsense publishers. $30k MRR gone overnight alongside $40k already earned in Adsense income siezed by Google. All this happened early this month of March, effectively crippling our ability to take care of employees and survive the Covid-19 crisis. Such hypocrisy.

judge2020 7y ago
In an attempt to cut its own cost, Google effectively automates everything, even in terms of detecting abuse (eg. clickjacking or click fraud) and advertisements that go against their rules (I think even in terms of mentioning Covid-19 in ads since I haven't seen any ads mentioning anything about "virus"/"covid"/etc at all this month). I wouldn't doubt you got hit by this automated system. Maybe you should write a blog on this.
- hienyimba 7y ago
  You would think that by making them so much money (they take 40% of income), you would be entitled to speak to a human. We have always followed their guidelines and just appealed to them but from researching others who have had similar issues, I'm assured that is a big black hole.
  - londons_explore 7y ago
    Even if you could talk to them, they wouldn't be able to tell you what you did wrong. If they did tell you what you did wrong, you could figure out what the rules in their spam detecton system was and game the system, and their losses from you or anyone gaming their adspam detection system are far greater than loosing a few false positive customers. Sux for you, but works great for them.

orasis 7y ago

The $340 million in Google Ads credits is self serving bullcrap. They are going to flood their ad markets with credits so that they can keep CPMs inflated so that the real advertisers have to continue paying inflated prices.

humanbeinc 7y ago
This! Although one could argue for inflationary effects, Google keeps prices stable and that is their main concern here

neiman 7y ago

Lol they offer free ads because there's a financial crisis, they probably lost of customers and they're trying to attract new ones. Fine. I offer free ads for 3 months worth 1B$ in my website, can I use it now for PR as well?:-)

quirmian 7y ago
Of course you can. Does your website get the kind of traffic google does?
guacamole4 7y ago
Do you actually currently make $1B in ads over 3 months then and will be giving away that revenue, or are you lying to score points online?
compiler-guy 7y ago
This offer only goes to accounts that have been active in the past year, so it is not a play for new accounts.
stubish 7y ago
Trick is, nobody is buying ads at the moment because nobody is spending on advertised products. So demand is way down, which means the value of the ads is also way down. By donating half a billion dollars worth of ads at today's rate, they generate half a billion dollars worth of demand and keep the price pumped up. If the numbers work out the right way, they might even be turning a profit by giving ads away.

dessant 7y ago

I think Google could afford to spend a couple billions more to fund the manufacturing and distribution of masks and ventillators, instead of announcing a support package with the bulk in ad credits. Also, Google employs some of the best marketers on the planet, they should be showing ads for how to wear masks correctly and for practical safety guidelines, and leverage everything they've learned about human psychology to disperse information that could save lives. That's what it means to actually want to do something, not just pretend with ad credits that ultimately boost your own business. Right now I'm getting an ad for Milka chocolate as I watch news videos about the pandemic on YouTube, instead of being offered a chance to learn how to safely disinfect groceries. Google does not need to give out ad credits to WHO to be able to run public safety ads today across all AdSense sites. They have the money and the talent to spin up a massive public safety campaign within days.

glouwbug 7y ago
True, but wouldn't that incentivize people to seek out masks when the already short supply is needed for the health care workers?
izacus 7y ago
Did you miss the last bullet point? > Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices. We’re working with our longtime supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety, with the goal of ramping up production of 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks that will be provided to the CDC Foundation. Additionally, employees from across Alphabet, including Google, Verily and X, are bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.
- dessant 7y ago
  Google has announced a $800+ billion support package for small businesses and crisis response, $810 billion of that are ad credits and an investment fund for small businesses. There is certainly more that Google could do to fund the manufacturing and distribution of life-saving equipment, even if they do mention it in the last bullet point, without clarifying the amount of financial support.

Donald 7y ago

I assume the free ad credits are to stave off cratering their own CPM market's bid prices? Conflating that funding with grants for assisting with COVID-19 responses is extremely disingenuous.

compiler-guy 7y ago
Except that they aren't conflating the two. They call out each individually.

onetimemanytime 7y ago

Nordstrom too, is offering 20% off any purchase of $1200 or more to help Americans weather this crisis. (joke)

guacamole4 7y ago

The vitriol in this thread is appalling. These grants are hugely helpful for many small businesses including mine.

blunderkid 7y ago

Very magnanimous of big G! Obliging us with virtual trinkets that cost them nothing when most of us be out of jobs soon and a few really unlucky ones may die. Bet their PR department is made up of lawyers only. Complete lack of empathy and imagination. Full marks for greed and being clever by half. Let’s see if other companies in valley follow their “lead” in hand waving or actually do something that matters.

the_duke 7y ago

With all the negative press on Google, I was expecting this to be a decent PR move. Reading the announcement is somewhat sobering though. Most of it (590 million) are ad "credits" or "grants". Keep in mind that Google ad revenue in 2019 was 134 billion. > $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities. It seems odd to me that institutions are supposed to resort to advertising to be shown above all the false, misleading and inaccurate information. Is the WHO supposed to have a marketing team optimizing ad spending on Google during a pandemic to rank higher than inferior sources? There ought the be ranking mechanisms or other side channels to keep important information on top in case of a crisis. This is like fixing a leaking pipe by forcing in water from the outside. Edit: apparently all ads relating to Coronavirus have been blocked. See below. --- Small beneficial side effect: for Google: this drives up the prices a bit for pharma and other companies trying to profit with Corona related topics. > $340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. This sounds decent at first, but also seems more like a token gift on further thought. I reckon the goal here is mainly to avoid losing those customers. Many SMBs are closed, struggling, and will reduce expenses where possible. Marketing is often the easiest to cut right away, and many of those might not return anytime soon. The hardest hit businesses are those that had to close down (restaurants, shops, etc). They won't be spending money now. While a small, free marketing budget is good to have , it will also help stabilize/raise prizes more quickly once everything opens again. This way they keep those customers at least somewhat engaged and can also prop up the numbers a bit. > A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. This is certainly the most impactful. Assuming 70% of that money reaches businesses, it could amount in 14_000 loans of 10_000 each. I'd assume those to be loans though, so the fund probably won't be much of a loss in the medium term.

summerlight 7y ago
> Is the WHO seriously supposed to have a marketing team optimizing ad spending on Google during a pandemic so they rank higher than some "Coronavirus is a hox" article? Google recently blocked advertisements around COVID19 and related issues. Would you please at least look it up before making this kind of assumptions? https://www.blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/coronavirus-covid19-response/ https://www.blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/...

andrewpheonix 7y ago

I appreciate Google's efforts, but it's really depressing to realize how terrible we have it in the Third World and how hard or how little of these funds will trickle down to the people and orgs on the fore fronts. If I was in the US now, my company and staff would qualify for a large number of help avenues, not to even speak of grants for our work on COVID 19. Over here? The AWS bill we pay monthly has doubled...because our currency has fallen that much. I won't meet payroll on Monday because clients have paused their work and payments to us...etc Meanwhile here is all manner of funds seemingly available but just another new extra requirement out of reach. As usual, the beneficiaries will be larger orgs and their army of consultants and friends.

legitster 7y ago

I think we are are seeing the first images of how organizations are trying to fight the massive forces of deflation - no one wants to be the first to start cutting prices. You'll see companies giving away or donating more and more of their inventory or product, but I think it's inevitable that prices in certain sectors of the economy will start coming down.

baby 7y ago

I don't know why people always expect companies to do things the government should do. And when they do things that the government should do, they then say the the company could do more. It's false. The government could do more. And if they're out of money they should tax these companies more then.

randomsearch 7y ago
What if the people don’t support taxation, or the companies avoid it?
- baby 7y ago
  If you don't support taxes usually you go live in exile in the middle of nowhere. If you want infrastructure, schools, firemen, police, etc. then you support taxes.

trhway 7y ago

given the lackluster situation of their Cloud, i think it would have made more sense to throw those $800M as cloud credits instead of ads.

thetanil 7y ago

Google to pay themselves 800 million, how nice for small business

pixelbath 7y ago

Meanwhile, I'm still sitting with ~$80 USD in an AdSense account that's been there for over 10 years because it's still not a large enough amount to pay out.

itsdrewmiller 7y ago

“ A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. As one example, we’re working with the Opportunity Finance Network in the U.S. to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help bridge these gaps for SMBs.” What does this really mean? Aside from the NGO stuff it sounds like it could just be taking advantage of the downturn to buy businesses?

vagab0nd 7y ago

> The ad credits will be available to small and medium businesses, who advertise ... since the beginning of 2019. Why since the beginning of 2019? If I just started a business at beginning of 2020, wouldn't I need at least equal amount of help, if not more?

cromwellian 7y ago

No good deed goes unpunished it seems.