By
Bena Ilyas
May 13th, 2024
Google is set to resume office activities starting on July 6 in a phased reopening which will see offices at only 10% capacity with plans to achieve 30% capacity by September 2020. GOOGL stock is up.
In the global response to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a disease that was discovered in Wuhan, China in late 2019, governments around the world had to issue stay at home orders which forced many startups and multinational companies to implement a work from home strategy. While this strategy saw a meteoric rise in some companies stocks such as Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) teams, other companies in the travel industries have suffered a huge decline in their stocks. Alphabet’s Google LLC (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) implemented a work from home initiative in early March following tough government restrictions and the offices of Google are set to open starting July 6 in the wake of countries easing their mandated lockdowns.
Google (GOOGL) stock has positively reacted to the news.
Google Fighting against COVID-19
Google is a world leader for search engines whose uses became increasingly important with the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease. With presence in almost all regions of the world, people rely on google’s search engine to gather information about the coronavirus. The company thus disclosed plans to utilize a $6.5 million fund to help curtail the spread of fake news and the dissemination of false information about the coronavirus disease. The funds were to be utilized by fact-checking organizations that are running on a relatively low budget due to the negative effects of the pandemic.
Google also partnered with Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) to develop a contact tracing tool to help detect those who have been diagnosed with the virus. The app which employs a decentralized system for data sharing has met with both acceptance and rejections. Three U.S States including Alabama, North Dakota and South Carolina have declared that they will be utilizing the app in a bid to slow down the spread of the virus while the NHS has rejected the app while prioritizing the UK version of contact tracing app which utilizes a centralized matching system to show alert of other people’s coronavirus status.
Google to Reopen Offices, GOOGL Stock Is Up
Most Google employees may be working from home for the rest of the year but the company has announced it will begin to open some of its offices starting July 6 but in a phased easing which will see the offices open at an initial 10% capacity while targeting a 30% capacity by September, 2020.
The company also reaffirms it will provide an allowance of $1,000 to googlers who will be working from home to purchase furniture and necessary office equipment.
These announcements saw Google (GOOGL) stock rise by 0.58% yesterday. Today in the pre-market GOOGL is 0.61% up. Its price has reached $1,430.00,
Google is known to wedge through tough economic conditions and as an established firm, there is the confidence that the company’s post COVID-19 era will be filled with positive innovations.