SAN FRANCISCO – Google parent Alphabet yesterday said its profit climbed to US$11.2 billion (RM46.56 billion) in the latest quarter, beating expectations, as ad spending rebounded after being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Money made from cloud-computing offerings and its Google Play shop for smartphones powered by its Android software also helped fuel the 42% jump in revenue to US$46.2 billion in the quarter, said the company.
“We had a strong quarter, consistent with the broader online environment,” said chief executive Sundar Pichai.
Blockbuster revenue in the quarter was led by an increase in ad spending at Google’s search engine and video-streaming platform YouTube, according to chief financial officer Ruth Porat.
Alphabet has spent years evolving YouTube from its roots as a free video-sharing to an online television platform competing with titans such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
“We expected Google’s ad revenues to recover across search, YouTube and Network Members (in the quarter), and all three segments outperformed our expectations,” said analyst Nicole Perrin of eMarketer.
She said the gains are especially true of YouTube, and pointed to “notable increases in political ad spending during the quarter”.
Google’s cloud-computing business revenue grew nearly 50% to US$3.4 billion as the pandemic boosted a trend towards working, playing, shopping and learning online.
Alphabet shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading before giving up some ground. – AFP, October 30, 2020
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