Google adds cloud customers, nabbing Verizon from Microsoft

Diane Greene, senior vice president of cloud services at Google Inc., speaks during the company's Cloud Next '17 event in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. The Cloud Next conference brings together industry experts to discuss the future of cloud computing. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Alphabet Inc unveiled new customers and partners for its cloud storage service in an attempt to boost the standing of Google’s business sales unit, which lags behind Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp. 

Diane Greene, Google’s cloud chief, named several recent clients at the company’s event March 9 in San Francisco, including Colgate-Palmolive Co, HSBC Holdings Plc and EBay Inc. Google also scored a big win from a rival: Verizon Communications Inc announced that it has moved more than 150,000 employees to Google’s productivity apps, called G Suite. Previously, Verizon used the Office app suite from Microsoft, according a person familiar with the arrangement.