Cupertino
Alphabet’s second-quarter net profit soared more than 166 per cent year-on-year on the back of strong revenue growth in its advertising business.
Net profit at Google’s parent company surged to $18.5 billion in the three months ending June 30, about $11.6bn more than the same period a year earlier.
Revenue during the quarter increased 61.5 per cent on an annual basis to $61.9bn, beating the $55.2bn average analysts’ estimate.
In the second quarter, “There was a rising tide of online activity in many parts of the world and we are proud that our services helped so many consum-ers and businesses” Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google and Alphabet, said.
“Our long-term investments in AI [artificial intelli-gence] and Google Cloud are helping us drive sig-nificant improvements in everyone’s digital experi-ence,” added Mr Pichai.
The California-based company’s advertising reve-nue from Search, YouTube and other activities soared 68.8 per cent to $50.4bn in the second quar-ter, almost $20.5bn more than the same period last year.This was the fastest annualised growth rate in adver-tising revenue in more than four years.
The company’s stock was down about 1.6 percent at $2,638 a share after the earnings announcement.
Retail was one of the biggest contributors to the company’s advertising growth, Google’s chief busi-ness officer, Philipp Schindler, said on an earnings call.
The total revenue from the cloud business grew an annual 53.9 per cent to more than $4.6bn, while revenue from other bets, or subsidiaries, increased almost 29.7 per cent yearly to $192 million.
Other bets are derived mainly through the sale of internet offerings as well as licensing and research and development services. This includes Alphabet’s X lab, self-driving unit Waymo and other non-Google companies. —TLTP
