Technology and IT giants are also taking important steps in the fight against the new deadly coronavirus (COVID-19), which has spread around the world and has caused the death of 27.365 people since its emergence in Wuhan, China. One of them, Google, will spend millions of dollars to combat the epidemic. Google announced last month that it had made a $ 25 million advertising grant to educate the public about disease prevention measures. The company believes that training is the primary weapon in preventing the spread of coronavirus. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Google will continue to tackle the coronavirus through more than $ 800 million in donations, services and expertise, as part of the measure package announced today. Support to SMEs, governments and health workers Small and medium-sized businesses, health organizations and governments will benefit from the aid package prepared by the company, and health workers who are at the forefront of the war with the pandemic. Aids to be provided by the company are as follows: Google will provide a $ 250 million advertising grant to more than 100 government agencies that provide critical information to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak globally and help local communities with other measures. In addition, financial institutions and non-governmental organizations will receive 20 million dollars in advertising grants in order to run public service announcements and other resources especially for SMEs. A $ 200 million investment fund has been created to support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help small businesses access capital. For example, Google is working with the Opportunity Finance Network in the U.S. to finance mainstream financial institutions’ underserved communities and people. A 340 million dollar Google Ads loan was defined for all SMEs whose accounts were active during the past year. Credit notifications will appear in Google Ads accounts and will be available on Google’s ad platforms until the end of 2020. A $ 20 million Google Cloud credit pool has been set up. This pool was created for academic institutions and researchers to take advantage of Google’s computing and infrastructure. Researchers will benefit from this pool as they explore potential treatments and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19. Direct financial and expert support has come to help increase the production capacity of personal protective equipment and life-saving medical devices. Google has been working with Magid Glove & Safety, a longtime partner for this. The company aims to donate 2-3 million facial masks to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the coming weeks. In addition, Alphabet employees, including Google, Verily and X, will work with equipment manufacturers, distributors, and governments to increase engineering, supply chain, and expertise to increase breathing apparatus production. Google also raised its ‘matching’ bonus annually to its staff from $ 7,500 to $ 10,000.
