Google Cloud is much younger than its bigger competitors. While youth can be an asset in the technology business, it’s also caused difficulties for Google on numerous occasions—the latest of which has thrown at least several hundred million dollars’ worth of software contracts into limbo, according to an estimate from a Google manager.
The problem stems from Google’s long-running failure to enforce certain rules governing the way outside companies known as channel partners help Google sell third-party software to customers through Google Cloud Marketplace, said this person and several others with direct knowledge of the issue.