Google Cloud Caps Sales Commissions as Losses Mount

Last year, Google lost $5.6 billion on its cloud computing business—real money even for one of the most wildly profitable companies on the planet. Now it’s taking a new approach that could help it stem a bit of that flood of red ink.

Thomas Kurian, chief of Google’s cloud computing unit, recently reintroduced a cap on the commissions earned by Google Cloud salespeople who sell to large companies, according to a person with direct knowledge of the policy and two others briefed on the change. The decision reversed one of the first moves Kurian made on arrival at the company two years ago, when he did away with a cap then in place. The change was part of an effort to help the company attract top-notch salespeople with the promise of lucrative paydays.