Twitter resumes paying Google Cloud, patches up relationship

San Francisco – Twitter has resumed paying Google Cloud for its services, patching up a relationship that became strained after billionaire Elon Musk acquired the social network and stopped paying Google and various other companies.

Twitter’s new chief executive Linda Yaccarino

helped get the relationship back on track, according to a person familiar with the situation.

As part of the discussions, which have included talks between Ms Yaccarino and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, the two companies are also negotiating a broader partnership that could include advertising and Google’s use of Twitter’s application programming interface, or API, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter.

Mr Musk has been supportive of the new direction in the relationship, the person said.

Another person with knowledge of the matter confirmed there are no issues currently between the companies.

Spokesmen for Twitter and Google declined to comment.

Since Mr Musk acquired Twitter last autumn, the social media platform has pushed many of its vendors for discounts.

Reducing spending on cloud computing emerged as a particular goal of his, according to another person with knowledge of the matter. 

Twitter has paid Alphabet’s Google Cloud about US$200 million (S$268 million) to US$300 million per year, three people with knowledge of the matter estimated. The social media company largely uses Google Cloud for data analysis and machine learning.

Google at first struggled to get through to Mr Musk to discuss the unpaid bills.

In an attempt to reach him, Google employees contacted people at his space exploration firm, SpaceX, which also does business with Google Cloud, according to two of the people. 

Google had some levers at its disposal to press Twitter to pay, including restricting aspects of the cloud computing platform. 

The companies announced their partnership in 2018. Twitter was once one of Google Cloud’s most important customers, but Google has since broadened its client base.

After reporting its first profitable quarter earlier in 2023, Google hopes to use its artificial intelligence to close the gap with larger cloud rivals such as Microsoft and Amazon.com. BLOOMBERG