Alphabet Will Donate $800 Million for COVID-19 Fight

Google's parent company Alphabet plans to donate more than $800 million to a range of companies and initiatives including manufacture of health equipment and allocation of Google Ads credits, to help tackle coronavirus.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post that the virus brought a devastating toll on lives and communities, with the money committed to support the work of small-to-medium-sized companies, governments, and health organisations and workers on the frontline of this global pandemic. The company partnered with protective equipment company Magid Glove & Safety to produce between 2 and 3 million face masks in the coming weeks. These will be made available to the CDC Foundation, a non-profit created by the US government to deliver backing for the work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Employees from Alphabet's subsidiaries Google, Verily and X will bring engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to manufacturers, distributors and the US government, to help increase production of ventilators. Alphabet allocated $250 million in advertising grants for the World Health Organisation and more than 100 global government agencies, to inform people of critical information on COVID-19. Around $340 million in Google Ads credit will be available to small- and medium-sized businesses with active accounts to alleviate marketing costs, and the company will set aside $200 million to fund NGOs and finance companies globally to aid small businesses trying to access capital.