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Eric Schmidt, billionaire chair of Alphabet, Inc. the parent company of Google, led a massive fundraising drive in December for leftist analytics firm Civis Analytics, represented by a law firm that partnered with Justice Department special prosecutor Robert Mueller—raising questions about Mueller’s impartiality in his so-called “Russia probe” into President Donald J. Trump’s campaign. In March 2014, WilmerHale announced Mueller would join its firm as a partner. Mueller left his position in May after the DOJ appointed him as a special prosecutor to look into alleged “ties” between President Trump’s campaign and Russia. WilmerHale represented Civis Analytics during a $22...

Social media companies Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Twitter Inc. will have to amend their terms of service for European users within a month or face the risk of fines, a European Commission official said on Friday. U.S. technology companies have faced tight scrutiny in Europe for the way they do business, from privacy to how quickly they remove illegal or threatening content. The Commission and European consumer protection authorities will “take action to make sure social media companies comply with EU consumer rules,” the official said. The comments confirmed a Reuters report from Thursday. Germany, the most populous EU...

Google will become a subsidiary of a new parent company called Alphabet, under a massive restructuring arrangement designed to let the company's businesses operate more efficiently. Under the changes, announced Monday, Google co-founder Larry Page will become CEO of Alphabet. Sundar Pichai, formerly VP at Google where he oversaw Android, Chrome and Google apps, will become CEO of Google. Alphabet will include a group of companies, the largest of which will be Google. Other efforts will be run separately but apart from Google, including health efforts such as Life Sciences, which works on glucose-sensing contact lenses, and Calico, focused on...

With Google creating its own parent company, Alphabet, there's a bit of moving about in the Google boardroom. Larry Page is now chief executive of Alphabet. Sergey Brin is its president. And moving up to be in charge of Google is 43-year-old Sundar Pichai. Great news for Pichai, and good news too for India - his appointment makes him the latest Indian to earn a massively high-profile job in the US technology industry. Microsoft's Satya Nadella is the other notable example. Pichai's life story is remarkable, and his rise to the top of Google is a glowing endorsement of India's...