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Is Google Burning Small Business? JESSICA ROBINSON

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Is Google Burning Small Business? JESSICA ROBINSON ● Saving America’s Black banks 22 ● Life and debt at a PE hospital 42 ● A $500 million oil jackpot 18 August 10, 2020 The dominantsearch companyfaces antitrustscrutiny foritspower over anincreasingly vulnerable Main Street 38 Is Google Burning Small Business? JESSICA ROBINSON Executive Director, Michigan Mobility Institute “ THERE’S NO BETTER PLACE TO BUILD A MOBILITY BUSINESS THAN MICHIGAN.” When it comes to mobility, we’re making what the rest of the world hasn’t even thought of yet. Michigan is home to the highest concentration of engineering talent, has two world-class autonomous vehicle testing sites, and we’re first in the U.S. for mobility-related patents. With over 500 miles of roadway equipped for connected vehicle testing, it’s no wonder that everyone is moving to where it all started. If you’re ready to move into the future with your business, see how we can help at planetm.com/pure-opportunity August 10, 2020 ◀ As the price of search ads rose in the pandemic, psychotherapist Ellen Ross had to choose between paying Google or missing out on new clients 1 BUSINESSWEEK FEATURES 38 Google’s Dominance of Search Ads Sure Is Taxing BLOOMBERG The company’s health-care push is a case study in tech giants’ monopoly power FOR ELLIOTT 42 Private Equity Was Supposed to Cure Ailing Hospitals DAVID A Cerberus buyout leaves investors flush and medical centers deep in debt BY 46 Pepsi’s Unlucky Number PHOTOGRAPH A ’90s marketing stunt led to disaster and death in the Philippines ◼ CONTENTS Bloomberg Businessweek August 10, 2020 ◼ IN BRIEF 4 Hong Kong delays elections ● Argentina’s debt deal ◼ COVER TRAIL ◼ OPINION 5 Hire laid-off energy workers to help fight climate change How the cover ◼ AGENDA 5 Tencent earnings ● U.S. crop data ● New Zealand rates gets made “This week we’re talking about Google ◼ REMARKS 6 A rebate meant to lift Italy’s economy widens a class divide search ads. Turns out the company has a ton of power over small BUSINESS 10 Virus flareups ground airlines’ hopes for a rebound businesses.” 1 12 Boeing and Airbus gamble on keeping factories running “So much for ‘Don’t be evil.’” TECHNOLOGY 14 Silicon Valley’s mostly White workforce highlights “They removed that 2 the tech industry’s epic fail in diversity phrase from their code of conduct, you know?” FINANCE 18 When oil went negative, a group of traders made a killing “How about a really big Google something?!” 3 21 A coin shortage gives no quarter to laundromats “Dig deeper.” 22 Killer Mike’s campaign to get Americans to #BankBlack “Google doodle!” ECONOMICS 24 Biden the deficit hawk makes way for Biden the big spender “Is this 2015?” 26 Puerto Rico risks future funding as citizens skip the census “Autofill! Search meme! 28 Europe is recovering faster than the U.S. The color wheel!” “I get it. This isn’t the first time we’ve arted a POLITICS 30 ▼ Turning Chinese propaganda on its head in Hong Kong Google story.” “Maybe we do something with the magnifying glass ... you know when you were a kid and used it to kill ants?” 2 “Uh, no. No, I don’t.” “I was late to ‘Don’t be evil.’” 32 A conservative judicial star faces a right-wing litmus test STRATEGIES 34 How to make that commitment to racial diversity a reality 36 To keep innovating, get creative about remote collaboration 37 Providing service with a smile while wearing a mask ◼ PURSUITS 55 Architect Bjarke Ingels rethinks urban living 58 A blueprint for restaurants’ survival 60 Pandemic-born innovation may help us fly through airports 62 A cross between QVC and Netflix for the cocktail set 63 Space Age jewelry at an out-of-this-world price ◼ LAST THING 64 In a low-rate world, gold can do what bonds can’t CORRECTION The Bank of England item in Agenda (Aug. 3, 2020) should have converted £300 billion into $390 billion. How to Contact Bloomberg Businessweek EDITORIAL 212 617-8120 ● AD SALES 212 617-2900, 731 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10022 ● EMAIL [email protected] ● FAX 212 617-9065 ● SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE URL businessweekmag.com/service ● REPRINTS/PERMISSIONS Cover: Photograph 800 290-5460 x100 or email [email protected] ● Letters to the Editor can be sent by email, fax, or regular mail. by Jessica Petway They should include the sender’s address, phone number(s), and email address if available. Connections with the subject of the letter for Bloomberg should be disclosed. We reserve the right to edit for sense, style, and space ● Follow us on social media ▶ FACEBOOK facebook.com/ Businessweek; prop bloombergbusinessweek/ ▶TWITTER @BW ▶ INSTAGRAM @businessweek stylist: Sara Schipani BUSINESSWEEK BLOOMBERG FOR KWOK H.C. BILLY BY PHOTOGRAPH KONG: HONG ADVERTISEMENT The Information RCH N R Agile Chief Information Advantage Technology Officer Archana joined Atlassian in 2018 after working for Symantec We spoke to Archana Rao, Chief on the regulations of the country in which and Cisco. Information Officer of Atlassian, about the employee works. how agile management can help IT professionals address new challenges. Then we had to make sure that their WiFi was working, that their VPN was working and that they could access everything on Q: What is agile management for our systems. Despite all that, in March IT professionals? TL SSI N 2020, we remotely on-boarded a record S F W F A: IT always gets the reputation of being 200 employees. IT TE MS slow and expensive, and, too often, focused on the technology without understanding Q: How do you prepare for a challenge how it will be used. Agile management like that? means you focus on providing value, Connect business A: In a sense, you can’t — not specifi cally. and doing so continuously. You put your strategy to technical You need a company culture that fosters customer fi rst. execution. operating in an open, transparent manner, where everyone is comfortable learning Q: Who is the IT customer? from everyone else, and not just in a A: Every employee in the company is a hierarchical way. It’s those characteristics customer. We have to have very good of adaptability and teamwork that are the Team workspace to relationships across all the company’s real preparation for the challenges you stay on the same page. departments, both in the trenches and at a don’t see coming. C-Suite level, to eff ectively serve them. Q: How does this apply to IT teams in companies that aren’t in the software industry? A collaborative ITSM Agile management allows solution. you to deliver flexibility A: As every team in the world starts along with speed. And that’s operating remotely, IT departments have an a hard thing to accomplish. incredible challenge, but also an incredible opportunity. How can technology be brought to bear for every team to unleash their fullest potential and build amazing Q: How does that play out day-to-day? products and services for everyone? That’s A: Our goal is to have every new employee TL SSI N’S the challenge agile IT is meant to address. be productive on their fi rst day. We were GL CH really put to the test during the pandemic, Q: What’s often overlooked with agile when all those folks were being on-boarded management and IT? 13 from their homes. A: To move fast, you have to have offi ces For my team, it was all hands on deck. strong relationships with people in every First we had to arrange to send a laptop department, both to understand what is 4K to every employee — sometimes directly, needed to meet their needs and to get employees sometimes through third parties, depending their buy-in. 170K customers Learn more about Atlassian and agile management at atlassian.com/enterprise ◼ IN BRIEF Bloomberg Businessweek By Benedikt Kammel ● Global coronavirus ● Hong Kong cases topped delayed September’s 18.6m Legislative and deaths passed 702,000. President Trump Council election said he thinks a vaccine for a year, blaming may be ready before a recent surge in yearend, with more than a half-dozen prominent Covid-19 cases. companies and researchers racing to develop one. The move outraged pro-democracy advocates, who accuse Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and ● A devastating blast in Beirut on Aug. 4 killed more than 100 people and injured China’s central government of trying thousands. The explosion, which has yet to be explained, destroyed the city’s only to stamp out dissent. wheat silo. Now, in addition to the pandemic, Lebanon faces food shortages. ● French lender ● Seven & i, the Japanese ● Trump ●“Right operator of the 7-Eleven Natixis replaced threatened to franchise, agreed to buy now, today, CEO François Marathon Petroleum’s gas ban Chinese we have an Riahi because station business for social media of “strategic 4 app TikTok. emergency. differences.” $21b The deal gives the world’s A building largest convenience store operator 3,900 Speedway is on fire, outlets and a presence He’s given the company until Sept. 15 in 47 of the top 50 U.S. to strike a deal with Microsoft or another U.S. entity about its American and they are metropolitan markets. operations. Critics of the app say TikTok, with an estimated 100 million Crosstown rival Société Générale also U.S. users, poses a national security deciding culled deputy CEO Séverin Cabannes threat—a charge parent ByteDance and retail banking head Philippe Heim denies. Trump added that the U.S. after reporting its worst quarterly loss Treasury should get a slice of any sale.
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