Google parent Alphabet reports $18.9 billion Q3 profit

Alphabet’s revenue for the July-September 2021 quarter increased by 41 per cent year-on-year to $65.1 billion on the back of a spurt in revenue from online ads and cloud services, according to a regulatory filing by the company. 

Google, like other online giants – Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon – continues to be a centre of online activity, with offerings such as its search engine, ad marketplace, and YouTube video platform that give it extensive global influence. Twitter, however, reported a large loss due to a shareholder lawsuit settlement

"This quarter's results show how our (artificial intelligence) investments are enabling us to build more helpful products for people and our partners," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google.

"As the digital transformation and shift to hybrid work continue, our Cloud services are helping organisations collaborate," he added.

From July to September, its video service sold $7.2 billion of advertising space targeted according to content and users, against $5 billion in the same period last year, according to Alphabet. 

Its remote-computing business saw nearly $5 billion in revenue, up 45 per cent over the previous year.

But, with 28.6 per cent of the global digital advertising market in 2021, Google's main revenue source remain advertising, ahead of Facebook's 23.7 per cent share,according to eMarketer.

Google, however, faces increased scrutiny from regulators and criticism from smaller rivals about  unfair domination of the markets by fending off competition.

South Korea's antitrust watchdog fined Google nearly $180 million in September for abusing its dominance in the mobile operating systems and app markets, it said, the latest in a series of regulatory moves against tech giants around the world.

Google also reportedly faces the threat of a new antitrust lawsuit in the US over its control of the online advertising market.

Google's results came the same day that Microsoft announced a quarterly earnings surge to $20.5 billion on the back of rising demand for cloud computing. Revenue jumped 22 per cent from the last quarter last year to $43.5 billion.

Facebook announced a 17 per cent jump in its profit for the third quarter to $9.2 billion amidst a spike in the number of users to 2.91 billion.

Twitter, remained an exception, registering a $537 million net loss in the quarter after settling a lawsuit alleging investors were misled about slowing user growth, although its revenues rose sharply with robust ad sales growth.

While much of the gains in finances of the internet companies can be attributed to the pandemic related restrictions, much of the business potential of the web firms still remain untapped.