Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Google Find My Device

Strong growth in ad sales on Google search and YouTube were not enough to offset a surge in costs at parent Alphabet Inc that shrank the first-quarter operating margin, leaving shares volatile.

Alphabet got a boost from how it values investments in Uber Technologies and other startups. That accounting change and a one-time benefit cut its effective tax rate nearly in half.

Investors are uncertain about future profit at Alphabet as the company navigates the move to a phone-based computing world and invests in small, fast-growing initiatives from self-driving cars to selling hardware and cloud computing services. The quarterly results did not clarify the outlook.

Longer-term capital expenditures nearly tripled to $7.3 billion (roughly Rs.48,000 crores) in the first quarter from $2.5 billion a year ago.

Still, worldwide sales increased to $31.1 billion (roughly Rs. 2 lakh crores), above the average analysts’ estimate of $30.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Google had several one-time costs including acquiring 2,000 employees in Taiwan for $1.1 billion from HTC Corp and moving up when it awards equity to employees.

Continuing cost increases came from acquiring streaming rights for YouTube’s new TV service and marketing new products.

Investors are counting on one other bet, the Waymo self-driving vehicles effort, to generate noteworthy revenue this year as it begins offering ride-hailing services.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *