Ad Business Keeps Fuelling Google's Alphabet Profit
Google's parent Alphabet announced first-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday. Alphabet said consolidated revenue rose to $20.26 billion from $17.26 billion. Earnings per share of $7.50.
"Our Q1 results represent a tremendous start to the year with 17% revenue growth year on year and 23% growth on a constant currency basis. We’re thoughtfully pursuing big bets and building exciting new technologies, in Google and our Other Bets, that position us well for long term growth," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet.
"As a result of the ongoing strength of the U.S. dollar, we realized a negative currency impact on our revenues year-over-year of $762 million, or $593 million after the benefit of our hedging program. Holding currency constant to prior periods, our total revenue grew 23%" year-over-year and declined 4% sequentially reflecting holiday seasonality."
Cost-per-click, or the average price of online ads, fell 9 percent in the quarter ended March 31.
Google's advertising revenue increased 16.2 percent to $18.02 billion, while the number of ads, or paid clicks, rose 29 percent, the company said.
Losses increased at the company's Other Bets - broadband business Google Fiber, home automation products Nest, self-driving cars and X.