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Google Offers $800 Million to Virus Relief, Including Ad Credits

Google is pledging $800 million in relief funds to customers and health-care workers, to address the coronavirus pandemic.

Google Offers $800 Million to Virus Relief, Including Ad Credits
Pedestrians pass in front of Google headquarters in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, U.S. (Photographer: Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Google is pledging $800 million in relief funds to customers and health-care workers, joining a list of corporations providing money and materials to address the coronavirus pandemic.

The contributions include $250 million in advertising credits for the World Health Organization and $340 million to small businesses to run promotions with Google, Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google and parent Alphabet Inc., announced Friday. The economic fallout from the pandemic has dried up marketing spending. Another $20 million gives researchers working on the novel virus credits to use the company’s cloud-computing services.

Google also said it would be working with a partner, Magid Glove and Safety Manufacturing LLC, a supplier based in Illinois, to produce between 2 million and 3 million face masks in the coming weeks. Protective masks are in dire shortage across hospitals in the U.S.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.