Google isn’t kidding around about cost cutting, even slashing its FT subscription

Google Ends Enterprise Subscription to Financial Times Amid Broader Cost-Cutting Efforts

The latest news from Google reveals that the tech giant is discontinuing its enterprise subscription to the Financial Times, signaling a shift in its approach to media partnerships. According to sources, this move is part of a larger cost-reduction strategy being implemented across various divisions within the company.

Google has been actively cutting costs throughout 2025, with initiatives such as eliminating 35% of managers overseeing small teams and offering voluntary exit programs to employees. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi had previously indicated a commitment to further cost-saving measures, a stance that remains unchanged despite the company’s strong financial performance in Q2 2025, with reported revenue of $96.4 billion.

While these cost-cutting measures may only result in modest savings for Google, they come at a time when the company is facing challenges in its relationships with news publishers. Recent data has shown a decline in referral traffic from Google Search to publishers, with significant drops observed among major outlets like CNN, Business Insider, and HuffPost.

The decrease in traffic is attributed to Google’s AI Overviews feature, which provides users with summarized information directly on the search results page, reducing the need to click through to external websites. Pew Research data indicates that since the launch of this feature, click-through rates to external sites have decreased significantly.

Some industry observers have likened Google’s decision to cancel its FT subscription to a plagiarist refusing to purchase the source material they are copying from. At a recent Fortune event, Neil Vogel, CEO of People Inc., criticized Google as a “bad actor” for its practices related to web crawling and AI.

In a scathing op-ed earlier this year, Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint criticized Google for creating a “zero-click” environment where all traffic ultimately leads back to Google, negatively impacting publisher traffic and revenue. Despite these criticisms, Google has not provided any official response to the concerns raised.