Google parent company Alphabet reported second quarter revenues up 26 percent from the year before to USD 32.657 billion, with the increase at 23 percent on a constant currency basis, according Telecompaper. CFO Ruth Porat (photo) attributed the rise to company investments, strong results for advertisers and new business opportunities for Google and Alphabet. The net profit was hit by the recent fine of EUR 4.34 billion imposed by the European Union. Including the fine, profit slipped to USD 3.195 billion from 3.524 billion, with diluted earnings per share off to USD 4.54 from 5.01. Excluding the penalty, the net figure jumped to USD 8.266 billion from 6.260 billion the year before or diluted EPS of USD 11.75 from 8.90.
All operations contributed to the strong results, with Google segment revenues –including Nest- rising to USD 32.512 billion from 25.913 billion the year before, including advertising revenues lifting to USD 28.087 billion from 22.672 billion. Segment revenue also include non-advertising revenue, including cloud computing services, Pixel-branded smartphones and the Play store: these advanced to USD 4.425 billion from 3.241 billion. Revenues from “Other Bets” leaped to USD 145 million from 97 million; this stream includes Verily, Google Fiber and Waymo.
By region, the US contributed 21 percent to total revenues, with EMEA bringing in 26 percent, APAC 36 percent and Canada and Latin America 31 percent.
Traffic acquisition costs rose slightly to 23 percent of ad revenue from 22 percent year-on-year.
The number of employees at Alphabet advanced to 89,058 from 85,050 in the previous quarter and 75,606 the year earlier. The operating cash flow increased by 37 percent, while capex more than halved to USD 3.37 billion. All together, the cash position shrank by 4 billion per year, but climbed quarter-on-quarter by EUR 01.5 billion to USD 14.1 billion. In combination with investments, liquidity is now at USD 102 billion, only fractionally below the record level of the previous quarter.
