Published - September 7, 2022 @ 3:25 PM (EET)

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Speaking at a Code Conference on Tuesday, Chief executive Sundar Pichai of Google and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said it wants to make the company 20% more efficient ahead of economic uncertainty and a broader slowdown in ad spending.

Details about the plans could include headcount cuts as Pichai learns to "understand the macroeconomic," Pichai said on stage.  "The macroeconomic performance is correlated to ad spend, consumer spend, and so on," he said.

Pichai, the head of one of the most successful businesses in the world, also talked about facing a "hyper-intense" market in tech.

He noted that "competition comes from nowhere," referring to the short-form video platform TikTok, which has skyrocketed to become one of the world's most popular apps.

Yet, at the conference hosted in Los Angeles, Pichai defended the internet-search giant against claims that it is anti-competitive and said the company is "pro-competitive," naming companies including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) as competitors in the advertising business.  

Pichai also described TikTok as a rival in the video space but said Google's TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts, is off to a "great start." 

WHY IT MATTERS 

In 2022, The US Justice Department sued Google, alleging the company violates antitrust laws as it dominates the search markets.  

According to people familiar with the matter, the DOJ is now also preparing to sue Google on claims it illegally dominates the digital advertising market, with Big Tech critics like Sen. Amy Klobuchar pushing antitrust legislation that would target the company.

Alphabet closed the most recent trading day at $106.81, moving -0.96% from the previous trading session, and before today's trading, shares of the search leader had lost 8.06% over the past month.

Lagging behind the S&P 500's loss of 5.13% over the same period and having missed analysts' earnings expectations in the first two quarters of the fiscal year 2022, investors will be hoping for strength from Alphabet as it approaches its next earnings release.