Coronavirus COVID-19: Google CEO Sundar Pichai commits $800 mn to help SMBs, health workers

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced $800 + million commitment to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organisations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement came on his official blog that read, "As the coronavirus outbreak continues to worsen around the world, it’s taking a devastating toll on lives and communities. To help address some of these challenges, today we’re announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic."

Google will commit $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. 

Tech giant Google will also provide $20 million in ad grants to community financial institutions and NGOs specifically to run public service announcements on relief funds and other resources for SMBs.

A $200 million investment fund 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 US to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions. 

The commitment also includes $340 million help in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. 

Sundar also announced a pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers to leverage our computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential therapies and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19.

Google CEO wrote, "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.

In addition to these commitments, Google also increased the gift match Google offers every employee annually to $10,000 from $7,500. That means our employees can now give $20,000 to organizations in their communities, in addition to the $50 million Google.org has already donated.

"Together, we’ll continue to help our communities— including our businesses, educators, researchers and nonprofits—to navigate the challenges ahead," said Sundar Pichai.