05-07-2025

TECH

CrowdStrike lays off 500 workers despite reaffirming a strong 2026 outlook

CrowdStrike reiterated its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to be between $4.74 billion and $4.81 billion.

CrowdStrike reiterated its fiscal 2026 first quarter and annual forecasts on Wednesday and announced a plan to cut about 500 roles, roughly 5% of its workforce, to streamline operations and reduce costs.

The cybersecurity company will incur about $36 million to $53 million in charges related to the layoffs, of which about $7 million will be recognized in the first quarter ended April 30, it said in a regulatory filing.

Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike said the rest of the charges will be seen in the second quarter. The charges primarily consist of future cash expenditure related to severance payments, employee benefits, and related costs.

The company’s shares were down nearly 4% in morning trading.

CrowdStrike had 10,118 full-time employees as of January 31, according to its annual report.

“While we will continue to prudently hire, primarily in customer-facing and product engineering roles, we are reducing roles in some areas of the business,” CEO George Kurtz said in a note to the company’s employees.

Cybersecurity remains a priority for businesses and governments at a time when high-profile hacking incidents have hit companies such as Microsoft, UnitedHealth Group and Walt Disney.

Analysts have said CrowdStrike’s prompt handling of the Windows outage last year, which disrupted internet services globally, helped the company maintain customer trust.

CrowdStrike reiterated its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to be between $4.74 billion and $4.81 billion and reaffirmed its annual adjusted profit-per-share estimate of $3.33 to $3.45.

The company’s forecast for first-quarter revenue was between $1.10 billion and $1.11 billion.

“This will likely spark debate on if this announcement is coming from a place of weakness or strength—to which we broadly believe it is the latter,” multinational financial services company Piper Sandler said in a note.

CrowdStrike will release financial results for its first quarter on June 3.

—Jaspreet Singh, Reuters

 

Waymo continues to expand its robotaxi fleet aggressively

May 05, 2025 1:14 PM ETAlphabet Inc. (GOOG) Stock, GOOGL StockTM, MGA, TSLA, UBER, LYFT, ZKBy: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor

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Waymo announced a major expansion of its autonomous ride-hailing operations, which is currently providing over 250,000 paid trips each week across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, with plans to launch in Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C. by 2026.

To meet the growing demand, Waymo said it is investing in a new 239,000-square-foot autonomous vehicle factory in Metro Phoenix, in partnership with Magna International (MGA), which will build thousands of Jaguar I-PACE vehicles equipped with Waymo's fully autonomous technology. The facility, a multi-million dollar investment, has already created hundreds of jobs in Mesa, Arizona, and is designed to scale production rapidly, including the integration of Waymo's sixth-generation Driver on new platforms like the Zeekr RT (ZK).

The factory features automated assembly lines and new efficiencies that allow vehicles to be validated and deployed into service within hours, significantly reducing launch time and cost. When the facility is operating at full capacity, Waymo said it will be capable of building tens of thousands of fully autonomous Waymo vehicles per year.

Waymo's expansion is supported by partnerships with companies like Moove for fleet management and recent collaborations with Toyota (TM) and Hyundai (HYMLF) to bring its technology to more vehicle models. The company's rapid growth is reflected in its ride volume, with long-term projections of tens of millions of rides annually.

The implications for other ride-hailing companies are significant. Waymo's market share gains will be watched by Uber Technologies (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT), while the pace of Tesla's (TSLA) robotaxi rollout and safety record in the U.S. is likely to be compared to Waymo.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) officially started Waymo in December 2016, when it spun off the Google self-driving car project as an independent company under the Alphabet umbrella. The origins of Waymo trace back to 2009, when Google first launched its self-driving car initiative.

Google stock sinks on report Apple plans to integrate AI search into Safari browser

 

Google stock sinks on report Apple plans to integrate AI search into Safari browser

Daniel Howley · Technology Editor

Updated Wed, May 7, 2025 at 8:59 AM PDT 2 min read

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) stock dropped more than 6% on Wednesday after Apple's senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, revealed that Apple (AAPL) is exploring adding AI search engines such as Perplexity to its default Safari web browser.

Cue's comments came during Google parent Alphabet's antitrust trial, according to Bloomberg. Last year, a federal judge ruled that Google maintained an illegal monopoly through its search business. During the trial, it was revealed that Google pays Apple $20 billion a year to use its search engine as the default search option in Safari.

During his testimony, Cue said Apple saw a drop in searches in Safari for the first time last month, attributing the move to customers increasingly opting for AI-based search options. Apple already offers ChatGPT as a search option as part of its Apple Intelligence platform.

While Cue said Apple won't replace Google as its default option out of fear of losing the revenue its deal generates, he said he believes AI search apps will eventually replace standard search engines.

Google has been working feverishly to ensure it catches up with AI startups like OpenAI and Perplexity to ensure it grabs hold of the AI search market. The company has already released its AI Overviews — generative AI-based responses to user queries — in standard Google Search and is currently testing its AI Mode, which more closely resembles apps like ChatGPT search and Perplexity.

Google already provides an AI search competitor in the form of its Gemini search option, but it's a separate option from Google Search. Microsoft also has an AI competitor in its Copilot search option.

Google's exclusivity deal with Apple is one of many the search giant has set up to ensure its search engine remains top of mind for users around the world. The company has also made deals with partners like Samsung, which also includes the company's various apps in its smartphones.

Apple relies on Google's deal for revenue as part of its Services business. Services saw sales of $96.1 billion in 2024, making that $20 billion per year an important part of the segment.

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

Google Stock Drops $160 Billion As Apple Executive Suggests Google’s Safari Dominance May Be Waning

Story by Derek Saul, Forbes Staff

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2 min read

 

Topline

Shares of Google parent Alphabet tumbled Wednesday after its key partner Apple indicated Google’s days of search engine dominance on Apple devices may be numbered, causing Google stock to limp toward one of its largest losses ever, the latest test for the company as generative artificial intelligence reshapes users’ search habits.

Google paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 in its search engine arrangement. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Key Facts

Eddy Cue, the senior vice president of Apple’s services unit overseeing the App Store and Apple devices’ default Safari browser, testified as part of the federal government’s ongoing antitrust case against Google that Apple is “actively looking” at adding AI-powered search options to Safari, according to Bloomberg.

Cue said the company will likely add generative AI search options from the likes of OpenAI or Perplexity AI as search options in Safari, though he added he believes Google should remain the default option.

April was the first month search activity on Safari ever slipped, according to Cue.

Alphabet stock tanked more than 8%, or $13, to $152 per share by mid afternoon.

That would be the worst percentage loss for the stock since October 2023 and the third-largest share price decline since the company went public in 2004.

Big Number

$160 billion. That’s about how much market capitalization Alphabet lost Wednesday, more than the total valuations of Boeing, Comcast, Nike or Starbucks.

Key Background

Google is the default and search engine option now available on Safari, in a deal highly lucrative for both companies. Disclosures last year revealed Google paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 for the Safari arrangement, equivalent to 36% of the search advertising revenue Google made from search advertising on Safari that year, according to Morgan Stanley analysts. Alphabet generated $162 billion of its $283 billion in 2022 revenue from search, meaning Safari advertising revenue accounted for a fifth of all sales that year. Wednesday was far from the first generative AI-driven stock market challenge for Google, which has its own Gemini generative AI service. Shares of Alphabet declined 7% Feb. 8., 2023 after a teaser for Gemini predecessor Bard showed an error and dropped 5% Feb. 26, 2024 when Gemini’s image-generating program produced historically inaccurate depictions of historical figures. Alphabet stock has returned 31% over the last three years, trailing the S&P 500’s 42% gain.

Apple Stock Also Slips

Shares of Apple also slumped Wednesday, declining 1.5% to below $196 per share, moving against the 0.1% advance for the tech-heavy Nasdaq index. Shares of the Silicon Valley behemoth are down 8% since the company reported earnings last Thursday. Apple has similarly underperformed the broader market amid the generative AI revolution, returning 26% over the last three years.

Further Reading

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