Google Cloud Hires Former Oracle CFO As AI Race Heats Up

Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG has appointed Kobi Bar-Nathan as the new finance chief for its rapidly expanding Google Cloud division.

According to his LinkedIn profile, bar-Nathan commenced his role in June 2025, bringing extensive experience from key finance leadership positions at Oracle Cloud and Microsoft Cloud.

His appointment comes at a pivotal time for Google Cloud, a significant growth engine for Alphabet. The cloud computing market remains intensely competitive, with major players like Amazon.com AMZN Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp. MSFT Microsoft Azure vying for market share.

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Benzinga reached out to Google’s investor relations team for comment on the update, and we’re currently awaiting their response.

Alphabet reported first-quarter revenue of $90.23 billion, up 12% year-over-year, topping the Street consensus estimate of $89.2 billion. Google Cloud revenue was $12.3 billion, up 28% Y/Y.

The company reported earnings per share of $2.81, beating a Street consensus estimate of $2.01.

In a significant development that underscores the growing demand for AI compute power, OpenAI has reportedly inked a cloud services deal with Google, dumping Microsoft Azure, which had been its exclusive infrastructure provider until earlier this year.

Google’s cloud business accounted for $43 billion of Alphabet’s 2024 revenue and has been working to expand its share in the AI infrastructure space. Google aggressively focused on its in-house chip technology to attract enterprise clients, including Apple Inc AAPL and AI-focused startups like Anthropic.

While Google Cloud continues its impressive growth, the competitive landscape remains intense. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives highlighted Microsoft Azure’s dominance in both the broader cloud and hyperscaling sectors, noting its lead over rivals like Amazon Web Services and Google.

Ives also pointed out that only about 20% of Microsoft’s current business is focused on next-generation cloud and AI. He anticipates that as this segment expands to 50-60% of their business, it will fundamentally revalue the company.

Price Action: GOOGL stock is trading higher by 0.33% to $174.12 premarket at last check Friday.

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