Google remains dominant as company reports quarterly profits of $20bn

Google’s dad or mum firm, Alphabet, ended 2021 on one other excessive observe, reporting higher than anticipated ends in a 12 months when it practically doubled earnings regardless of rising regulatory scrutiny of its enterprise.

The corporate reported revenues of $75.3bn for the three months ending 31 December, up 32% in comparison with final 12 months, and a revenue of $20.6bn, comfortably beating analysts’ expectations. Alphabet’s shares rose near 7% in after-hours buying and selling.

Google, the most recent of the US tech giants to report earnings in what has been a rocky reporting season for a few of tech’s smaller gamers, as soon as once more confirmed how highly effective it stays in search, video and internet marketing.

The corporate’s promoting revenues got here in at $61.2bn for the quarter, up from $46.2bn the identical time final 12 months, because it continued to profit from a pandemic-led growth in digital promoting.

Sundar Pichai, chief government officer of Alphabet and Google, stated: “Our deep funding in AI applied sciences continues to drive extraordinary and useful experiences for folks and companies, throughout our most essential merchandise.”

Alphabet faces a flotilla of regulatory inquiries within the US and Europe over its dominance in digital promoting. Final month, Texas, Indiana, Washington state and the District of Columbia sued Alphabet over alleged privateness violations. The corporate allegedly continued to trace customers’ areas even once they had turned off the “location historical past” setting.