The Pandemic Hit Alphabet/Google Hard

Google reported its first-ever revenue decline in the most recent quarter and attributed the poor performance to the impact from COVID-19.

Alphabet reported a net income of $9.9 billion on revenues of $38.9 billion in the quarter ending June 30. Revenues declined 2 percent year-over-year, a first-ever decline. 99.3 percent of those revenues came from Google, with Alphabet’s “other bets” posting yet another operating loss.

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“In the second quarter our revenues were driven by gradual improvement in our ads business and strong growth in Google Cloud and Other Revenues,” Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat said in a prepared statement. “We continue to navigate through a difficult global economic environment.”

Google’s business is dependent on online advertising, which accounted for 84 percent of Google’s overall revenues. But the business only saw small gains in the quarter. Google says that its advertising business improved over time, but that it wasn’t sure whether the rebound would continue into the current quarter.

“We believe it is premature to gauge the durability of recent trends, given the obvious uncertainty of the global macro environment, Ms. Porat said.

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Conversation 15 comments

  • george_semple

    31 July, 2020 - 10:28 am

    <p>Any comments on Huawei edging out Samsung to become the top vendor for Q2?</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      01 August, 2020 - 9:38 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#558015">In reply to George_Semple:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah, it didn't happen until/unless I see numbers I trust.&nbsp;</p>

  • Thomas Parkison

    31 July, 2020 - 10:39 am

    <p>Yet Apple posted a great quarter.</p>

    • cavalier_eternal

      31 July, 2020 - 11:36 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#558016">In reply to trparky:</a></em></blockquote><p>I get the desire to compare the two but their revenue streams are so different it really doesn't make sense to do it. </p>

      • Pbike908

        31 July, 2020 - 2:10 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#558038">In reply to cavalier_eternal:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Actually, it does make sense to compare it. It shows that Google's foray into selling phones is a complete and utter failure.</p><p><br></p><p>Apple's Iphone, Ipad, and Mac sales were up. Global smartphone sales are 20% which means Android phone sales overall were down significantly.</p><p><br></p>

        • cavalier_eternal

          31 July, 2020 - 5:45 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#558096">In reply to Pbike908:</a></em></blockquote><p>Google doesn't make money off of Android phone sales, or at least not the one's they don't make. So Google's revenue isn't an indication of Android sales nor has it ever been. </p>

        • illuminated

          31 July, 2020 - 5:46 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#558096">In reply to Pbike908:</a></em></blockquote><p>Google does everything for search and ads. I do not agree that it makes any sense to compare Apple to google. Maybe as a stockholder one can compare them but tech-wise Google is closer to Facebook than Apple.</p>

          • lvthunder

            Premium Member
            31 July, 2020 - 6:23 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#558199">In reply to illuminated:</a></em></blockquote><p>Tying everything to ads will end up hurting in the long term. It's time for Google to start making money other ways. Even Microsoft makes a billion on Surface. Google should be able to do that with their phones, YouTube TV, Nest, and Google Home.</p>

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    31 July, 2020 - 11:13 am

    <p>Google would be in serious trouble if they were ever broken up.</p><p><br></p><p>Does YouTube fall under Google or is it in the other bets category?</p>

  • aelaan

    31 July, 2020 - 1:20 pm

    <p>There are a lot of companies holding off on extending or going into new agreements. Our company thrives on security and for some companies it is just no longer a priority after the first 5 months of waffling. </p>

  • waethorn

    31 July, 2020 - 2:22 pm

    <p>They shouldn't have spent all that money on painting up 50's girl bikes.</p>

  • Pungkuss

    01 August, 2020 - 5:30 pm

    <p>Google had a OK quarter. The pandemic caused a 10% dip in search revenue. That is solely caused by the pandemic, no structural flaw in the business. Still had record people using their properties. This means when a recovery comes they will be fine. </p><p><br></p><p>Hardware companies like Apple made money because people needed stuff to work from home with, but what happens after. Will people buy stuff during the back-to-school/Christmas spending period?</p><p><br></p><p>As for Google they had a 53% growth in the cloud, growth in YouTube, growth in other revenues (Youtube TV/hardware etc). I am gonna wait for their stock to drop a bit then put some money in the stock. </p><p><br></p><p>As for Anti-trust I believe they will need to split up the sites (placing ads on sites) business that they have. This, according to Sundar is a small part of their business, so it makes sense. They make more money off their own sites anyhow. This will mean they can strip all the junk out of Chrome and essentially kill a shit load of business on the web, but the benefit is a faster chrome.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      02 August, 2020 - 7:50 am

      Google should have seen an explosion in revenues, not a 10 percent drop, which is still a double-digit drop. And the difference isn’t 10 percent, it’s 10 percent plus whatever that gain would have been. Microsoft’s revenues were up 13 percent, Apple’s were up 11 percent. Those are roughly 25 percent differences compared to Google. That’s massive.

      • Greg Green

        03 August, 2020 - 11:35 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#558466">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah, this is a bit of a puzzle. People who used PCs at work would’ve still been using them at home, and those that didn’t need PCs at work but now used them at home for remote work should've resulted in an increase in internet use. </p><p><br></p><p>As well as incidental things like a relative’s funeral I viewed over Zoom, there should’ve been more internet use and more opportunities for ad revenue. </p><p><br></p><p>Since many working at home would have no one looking over their shoulder there should’ve been more tabs opened to Amazon, etc, to ease the boredom and burden of working. Yet more opportunities for advertising.</p><p><br></p><p>Maybe more businesses are realizing the advertising provided by google aren’t worth the cost.</p>

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    03 August, 2020 - 11:36 am

    <p>Possible the brand is damaged? I find the advertising dip odd considering all the online content consumed and customer engagement during the pandemic </p>

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