Sina science and technology news on the morning of May 13, Beijing time, it is reported that Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in an interview that although consumers have forgotten the COVID-19, the US economy is obviously becoming more and more worrying for the company and the entire market**
US economic concerns
"Like everyone, we must see the uncertainty of the future." "The advantage is that our company has developed for a long time. We have experienced 2008 and the early stage of the epidemic, so we should take a long view," Pichai said in an interview with the media at the Google I / O Developer Conference on Wednesday
He also predicted that the US economy "needs time to solve" the current Qualcomm Swell.
"There are many different factors involved in the uncertainty, including supply chain problems, including rising energy prices." Pichai said.
"I do think the situation in some industries has eased." He specifically mentioned tourism, "but other new areas are starting to go wrong, possibly because of limited supply chains... Energy prices are also a problem. In some places, rents and food prices have risen."
NASDAQ It was about to hit its highest quarterly decline since 2008, when the U.S. economy was experiencing a housing crisis. Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed that the CPI of the United States rose 8.3% in April, which was not only higher than expected, but even close to the 40 year high of 8.5%.
Fear of inflation and rising interest rates led investors to sell stocks and buy safer assets. Affected by this, the share price of Google's parent company alpha has fallen by about 22% this year, and the whole technology sector cannot escape the decline.
The latest profit released by alphabet at the end of April was lower than analysts' expectations, mainly because the entire digital advertising industry faced an adverse situation in the first quarter, resulting in a significantly lower than expected performance of Youtube. The company's executives pointed out that YouTube's advertising revenue in Europe began to decline after the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in February.
"Obviously, when your advertising business is spread throughout the economy, many macro factors such as GDP will eventually affect advertisers' spending." Pichai said.
He said the economic outlook was not bleak. According to the comments of Philipp Schindler, chief commercial officer of alphabet, last month, Pichai pointed out that the flow of personnel began again, which is an important signal for Google's core advertising department.
"We do see a recovery in tourism." "There are signs that people began to flow after the pandemic, so they began to return to normal. But the uncertainty is that there are many factors, such as supply chains or rising energy prices. So when these are taken into account, there will still be an uncertain environment," Pichai said
Contrarian investment and development
Pichai pointed out that the company's technology investment is the key to keeping its business strong in a weak economic environment, and there is no sign that Google plans to slow down recruitment or shrink its business in a certain area.
"We hope to remain resilient in such an environment. The opportunities ahead are exciting. So we continue to invest, recruit and bring in excellent talents. There are also some areas undergoing long-term transformation, such as cloud computing and digital transformation. So we will continue to invest."
Despite economic uncertainty and market turmoil, alphabet increased its R & D investment in the first quarter by 22% year-on-year to $9.1 billion.
He also mentioned that the company's diversified business composition is an important source of its strong performance.
"We have invested in basic technology and are involved in many fields. So in some ways, we are a diversified enterprise. Obviously, we have important products such as search and Youtube. We also have computing products such as Android, play and hardware devices. Cloud computing also brings great opportunities. So I think we are involved in many fields. We are involved in these fields as a company around the world, which makes us happy Can look at these stages in the long term. "
Google announced its new smartphone at the I / O Developer Conference on Wednesday and demonstrated augmented reality technology that can use artificial intelligence technology to translate voice into text in real time and display it on the screen. Facebook Parent company meta and Microsoft Augmented reality devices are also being developed.
In a fast-growing market, Google must invest to keep up with its competitors, especially at a time when tiktok, a short video service, is rising, which is popular among young people. YouTube shorts, launched by Google in response to tiktok, grew rapidly, with more than 30 billion daily views as of the end of April and only 15 billion in January.
"We must respond to user needs." "We are trying to provide the best experience for our users, so we have the motivation to improve our products," Pichai said
He also mentioned snapchat、Pinterest And other products, "these things didn't even exist a few years ago", while smartphones and mobile ecosystems are creating a variety of new opportunities.
"We always remain flexible and have to adapt to the environment. I feel this when I come to work every Monday." He said.
About twitter Privatization
Pichai also talked about how to balance freedom of speech and content censorship on the Internet, as Elon Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter has renewed attention.
"I grew up in a huge democracy. Freedom of speech and getting people to speak are very important. I think they are fundamental issues." India born Pichai said, "search represents the content on the Internet today. We will only delete illegal content."
He added: "in a product like youtube, we will provide advice to users, amplify the influence of content, and formulate community codes. So we have clear policies. We will also take some actions. This can actually maximize freedom of speech and create a safe environment for everyone on the platform."
He also mentioned the company's content review method: "I think people must feel transparent. There are many ways to achieve this. For example, we have issued community codes, or in the search business, we have publicly disclosed how to evaluate the search quality." "I think it's important that spammers and others who try to bypass product regulations don't succeed," he added
Speaking of Musk's acquisition of twitter, Pichai said: "I'm an avid user of twitter. I think it's a very important product for the world. I've gained a lot from it. It's valuable to invest in him in the long term... This is important because it plays an important role in a democratic society... I want to see this product get better and better."