Alphabet/Google Revenues Grew Just 6 Percent

Google’s parent company Alphabet reported a net income of $13.9 billion on revenues of $69 billion in the quarter ending September 30. Revenues were up just 6 percent, and the firm’s profits fell 27 percent, missing expectations.

“We’re sharpening our focus on a clear set of product and business priorities,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, echoing comments he’s been making over the past few months. “Product announcements we’ve made in just the past month alone have shown that very clearly, including significant improvements to both Search and Cloud, powered by AI, and new ways to monetize YouTube Shorts. We are focused on both investing responsibly for the long term and being responsive to the economic environment.”

Google, as always, contributed the vast majority of Alphabet’s revenues, with its “Other bets” delivering just $209 million in revenues. Google services provided $61.3 billion in revenues, of which $54.5 billion was from advertising. So 79 percent of Alphabet/Google’s revenues were derived from advertising. Google Cloud brought in another $6.9 billion in revenues, a gain of 38 percent year-over-year (YOY).

Despite its dominance in the balance sheet, Google’s ad business experienced some difficulties in the quarter, with ad sales up just 4 percent overall and YouTube ad sales down 1.9 percent YOY.

Google’s sales growth has slowed for five consecutive quarters.