(June 5): Alphabet named Anat Ashkenazi as its chief financial officer on Wednesday, leaning on the more than two-decade veteran of drugmaker Eli Lilly to help steer the Google parent in the generative artificial intelligence era.

Ashkenazi will succeed Ruth Porat, the long-time Alphabet CFO whose transition to the role of investment chief was unveiled in July 2023 after years of strong growth at the company.

The executive change comes at a crucial time for Alphabet.

The company has been investing billions of dollars in AI to compete better with Microsoft and grab a share of what is widely seen as the technology industry's next growth driver.

Alphabet's strong first-quarter earnings in April showed AI integrations were boosting demand for its cloud services, but mounting costs of developing the cutting-edge features have concerned some investors and analysts.

"The AI era is giving us an incredible opportunity to innovate at scale across our core products. I look forward to working with Anat as we invest responsibly to support our next wave of growth," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

The appointment is effective July 31 and Porat will continue as CFO until Ashkenazi starts, including through the company's second-quarter earnings.

Alphabet's shares were 0.8% higher in premarket trading, while Lilly edged down 0.3%.

The drugmaker announced the departure of Ashkenazi earlier on Wednesday.

Ashkenazi joined Lilly in 2001 and held several positions at the company, including finance chief and controller of Lilly Research Laboratories where she oversaw the finance heads for several of the company's commercial businesses.

She became Lily's CFO in February 2021 and during her tenure the company's share price quadrupled, outperforming the 39% gain in the benchmark S&P 500 index, as the company launched several treatments including the popular diabetes treatment Mounjaro that is also approved for weight loss.

Ashkenazi will continue to serve as CFO and as a member of Lilly's executive committee through July 2024, Lilly said, adding that an internal and external search for her successor was underway.