IBM Says It’s No. 3 in Cloud Sales; Market Says Google

  • Big Blue lumps consulting services, other metrics into cloud
  • Amazon was first and defined the market for public cloud
Photographer: Ben Torres/Bloomberg
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When Alphabet Inc.’s Google published revenue from its cloud business for the first time last month, a feeling of bitter vindication swept through International Business Machines Corp.

Google, which is ranked the third-biggest cloud provider in the world by industry analysts, reported $9 billionBloomberg Terminal in cloud revenue for 2019. IBM lists $21 billion in cloud sales, yet usually it’s relegated to fifth place. Research firm Gartner Inc. even excludes it from their top-six rankings. After Google’s report, employees at IBM thought they’d finally get the credit they deserved.