Sean Hollister

Barnes continues to say he looked through documents to try to find any missing costs Google would have incurred to operate Google Play but didn’t find them.

“Is there some missing bucket of costs that could be added to Play to reduce its margins?” asked Epic’s lawyer.

“It would surprise me if in fact that were the case,” Barnes said.

It’s Google’s turn with Barnes. Google is beginning by attacking his credibility.

Ned Barnes is a CPA with Berkeley Research Center, and he says that the costs of Google Play were already accounted for in Google’s various internal financial statements.

“How did you know they were not under the direct control of Google Play management?” Epic’s lawyer asked.

“My group found they were under the direct control of Ruth Porat, CFO of Google,” Barnes replied.

Headcount for Google Play was 1,256 in 2020 and was projected to go up to 1,278 employees in 2021.

In a separate 2018 document, we saw revenue of $6.85 billion.

We also saw a financial document for the Android business, not Google Play, that showed Google did at one time at least account for its costs of building Android (including employees, infrastructure, marketing, and the “Google Play service”) separately.

“If Play Store was an independent company you would incur other costs that are not reflected on the Play P&L today and don’t need to because Play is not a standalone company,” he says.

But “Android development costs don’t just benefit Google Play, right?” asks a lawyer.

“I don’t want to speculate...” Cramer begins, “I think it’s fair to say the Android investments, are, yeah, connected to broader ecosystem.”

Cramer is testifying that Android had a separate P&L from Google Play, which relates to a point Epic has been trying to subtly make for a while. Google has argued that its Google Play app store isn’t as much of a “profit center” as it seems because it doesn’t account for all of Google’s costs — the money it had to invest bring you Google Play and Android.

But maybe Google’s costs were considered a separate business? We’ll find out.

We’ll start with accountants, and Judge Donato says he wants things to run smoothly and quickly. “This is the week to wrap up the facts,” says the judge. “We’re going to drive the wagon over the pass and reach the promised land.”

Sources told Reuters his withdrawal brings “a sense of relief” to Foxconn. He stepped down as head of Foxconn in 2019.

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