Google’s CFO just got a promotion

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is promoting chief financial officer Ruth Porat into a new role, according to a press release about Alphabet’s Q2 earnings. As part of the newly created role of president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, Porat will oversee Alphabet’s “Other Bets” investments and work more closely with policymakers and regulators.

The new role will be effective on September 1st, 2023, and the company will search for a successor as the CFO of Google and Alphabet. Porat will still report to CEO Sundar Pichai.

Porat’s promotion comes at an important time for Alphabet / Google. Policymakers around the world are working on potential regulations over artificial intelligence, and it seems likely that Porat will be heavily involved in the company’s conversations with lawmakers as part of her new role. Porat’s focus on Alphabet’s Other Bets, which includes entities like the self-driving company Waymo, health-focused company Verily, and internet company Access / Fiber, could help them become more sustainable businesses in the long term.

“I’m excited about this new role and the opportunity to engage with leaders globally to unlock economic growth via technology and investment,” Porat said in a statement. “I’m committed to Google’s continued growth and ensuring that our diverse global investments are supported with strong partnership to create opportunities for people and communities everywhere.”

In its earnings release, the company announced revenues for the quarter of $74.6 billion, beating expectations.

Alphabet’s Q2 earnings encapsulate a busy few months for the company, including its big I/O conference in May. Some of the biggest announcements from that show were three major pieces of hardware that all came out during the quarter — the Pixel Fold, the Pixel Tablet, and the Pixel 7A — but Google shared a bunch of AI-focused news, too, including its AI-powered Search Generative Experience and the wide release of its Bard chatbot.

In April, Alphabet also announced a huge reorganization of its AI teams by merging DeepMind with Google Brain to form the new Google DeepMind organization. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is heading up the new organization. The move could prove to be a major one for Alphabet as it looks to compete in AI with companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, and even Elon Musk’s new X.AI.

During the quarter, Google also announced layoffs at Waze, and a report said that Google may have stopped development on its AR glasses.