DALLAS, TX - OCTOBER 03: CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, speaks during a roundtable discussion ... [+]
In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company was committing $800 million in resources, targeted to help small businesses and those responsible for responding to the pandemic.
A majority of the $800 million figure (about $510 million) will come in the form of ad grants and Google Ad credits. The company will donate a $250 million ad grant to the World Health Organization and more than 100 other government agencies to spread information on how to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. Last month, Google had committed about $25 million to this effort.
Google also said it would help increase production of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical equipment. The company said it would offer financial support, but did not disclose an amount. Google would also enlist its employees to help the federal government and other manufacturers of much-needed equipment with the effort.
Small and medium-sized businesses will also be able to take advantage of about $340 million in Google Ad credits. Google will automatically add the credits to eligible accounts and will be available through 2020. It is unclear how Google will decide which businesses are eligible for the credits and how much they would receive.
Pichai also said the company would help underserved small businesses by offering a $200 million investment fund. The fund would support financial institutions and other non-governmental organizations finance operations in offering availability of cash.
Academic researchers can also take advantage of a $20 million worth of Google Cloud credits that can be used to study potential vaccines and therapies — or track data.
