Google Cloud has hired former Oracle CFO Kobi Bar-Nathan to lead its financial strategy, signaling Alphabet’s sharpened focus on AI infrastructure and intensifying its rivalry with Oracle in the enterprise cloud market.
Alphabet has made a notable play in the escalating cloud wars recruiting Kobi Bar-Nathan, former CFO of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, to lead financial strategy at Google Cloud.
The hire lands at a critical juncture. While Amazon and Microsoft continue to dominate the market, the next tier—Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud—are pressing their advantage with enterprise-targeted services, competitive pricing, and increasingly AI-driven infrastructure.
Bar-Nathan’s appointment isn’t just a personnel shift; it’s a strategic signal. He carries operational knowledge from inside Oracle’s cloud engine room—intelligence that could give Alphabet a sharper line of sight on cost discipline, capital allocation, and pricing structures as the battle for enterprise contracts deepens.
Bar-Nathan joins under Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, himself a long-time Oracle executive who departed after reported disagreements over Oracle’s cloud direction. The pair reunite in a markedly more aggressive environment.
Google Cloud has pivoted from loss-maker to one of Alphabet’s fastest-growing and now profitable segments, posting multiple quarters of operating gains under Kurian’s watch.
The unit’s trajectory is now tightly interwoven with Alphabet’s AI ambitions. From proprietary TPU chips and industry-specific LLM hosting, to partnerships across sectors like healthcare and finance, Google Cloud is becoming the AI infrastructure backbone for enterprise clients.
The CFO role in this context is pivotal—not just for cost control, but for shaping how Alphabet finances its push into enterprise AI and global data infrastructure.
Bar-Nathan’s experience navigating cloud expansion within Oracle—at a time when Oracle is itself aligning with OpenAI for its “Project Stargate” initiative—suggests Alphabet is more focused than ever on beating Oracle at its own game.