Google Cloud vs Neon

Darshan Kantak Named Netflix VP of Ads Platform

Netflix has appointed Darshan Kantak as Vice President of its ads platform. He will lead the teams responsible for the advertising experience on the service, as well as the reporting and operational tools for the Netflix Ads Suite. Kantak previously served as VP of Product at Google Cloud's Applied AI and has held positions at Snap, Meta, Microsoft, and Yahoo. He will report to Amy Reinhard, President of Advertising. His appointment comes as Netflix adjusts its ad revenue forecast to $2.7 billion for 2026, citing slower-than-expected rollouts of some ad capabilities. The streamer also recently announced updates to its ad platform, including new measurement capabilities and expanded programmatic offerings. This move underscores Netflix's commitment to strengthening its advertising infrastructure.

• Darshan Kantak joins Netflix as VP of Ads Platform.
• He will lead product, engineering, and data & insights teams for advertising.
• Kantak previously was VP of Product at Google Cloud's Applied AI.

Microsoft reveals Azure revenue: $33.2B in Q1 FY2027

For the first time, Microsoft disclosed Azure's quarterly revenue in dollars, reporting $33.2 billion for the July-September quarter, up 48% year-over-year. This beat analyst expectations of $32.3 billion and surpassed Google Cloud's $30.7 billion, though Google Cloud grew faster at roughly double the rate. Azure now represents Microsoft's largest and fastest-growing product line, accounting for about 36% of total quarterly revenue. The disclosure comes as Microsoft introduced a new reporting segment, Agents and Infra, which includes Azure and Microsoft 365 cloud, generating $76.8 billion. This transparency allows investors to directly compare Azure with AWS and Google Cloud, intensifying the cloud race.

• Microsoft reported Azure revenue of $33.2 billion for Q1 FY2027 (July-September 2026), up 48% year-over-year.
• Azure revenue exceeded analyst expectations of $32.3 billion.
• Google Cloud reported $30.7 billion revenue for the same quarter, growing roughly twice as fast as Azure.

YouTube Q3 2026 Ad Revenue Hits $11.2B, Up 9.2%

Alphabet reported Q3 2026 earnings with total revenue of $127.6 billion, up 25% year-over-year, slightly missing analyst estimates. YouTube generated $11.2 billion in ad revenue, a 9.2% increase from the prior year. YouTube also contributed to the $14.3 billion in Google Services subscription revenue, which includes YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket. Google Cloud revenue surged 103% driven by AI infrastructure demand. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted that Alphabet is now on a half-trillion dollar revenue run rate, with AI investments boosting Search query growth. Gemini models are processing nearly 32 billion tokens per minute, and the Gemini app has reached one billion users. YouTube Music and Premium surpassed 150 million subscribers globally.

• Alphabet's Q3 2026 total revenue was $127.6 billion, up 25% year-over-year.
• YouTube ad revenue reached $11.2 billion in Q3 2026, a 9.2% increase year-over-year.
• Google Services subscription revenue (including YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket) was $14.3 billion.

Databricks Powers Agentic Future with $7B Run Rate

Databricks, the data and AI company, has revealed it has surpassed a $7 billion revenue run rate, growing 80% year-over-year, and is valued at $190 billion. The company, which began as a Spark-based data processing platform, has evolved through multiple technology S-curves—Spark, Lakehouse, Lakebase, and now AI agents. Databricks' Lakehouse architecture unifies data lakes and warehouses, while its new Lakebase product, built on the acquisition of Neon, brings operational databases onto the same lakehouse foundation. The company is positioning itself as the 'system of record for agents,' with tools like Genie and Agent Bricks enabling employees to build and manage AI agents. With over 17 million databases launched by agents daily, Databricks is betting on the rise of agentic automation transforming the nature of work and the structure of firms, shifting from managerial hierarchy to human-agent collaboration.

• Databricks surpassed $7 billion revenue run rate, growing 80% year-over-year.
• Databricks is valued at $190 billion.
• More than 17 million databases are launched by AI agents on Databricks every day.

Major update to our Free Plan: now with 1 GB of Postgres storage per project, 100 projects included

Database storage on the Neon Free plan is now 1 GB per project, up from 0.5 GB. You still get 100 projects, with existing projects getting the new limit automatically.

Claimable Neon: Provisioned by agents, claimed by humans

Claimable Neon implements the anonymous registration method in auth.md, the open agent registration protocol authored by WorkOS, to give agents a way to provision a temporary Neon project without creating an account or collecting payment details.