• Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Special Offers
Business Intelligence Info
  • Business Intelligence
    • BI News and Info
    • Big Data
    • Mobile and Cloud
    • Self-Service BI
  • CRM
    • CRM News and Info
    • InfusionSoft
    • Microsoft Dynamics CRM
    • NetSuite
    • OnContact
    • Salesforce
    • Workbooks
  • Data Mining
    • Pentaho
    • Sisense
    • Tableau
    • TIBCO Spotfire
  • Data Warehousing
    • DWH News and Info
    • IBM DB2
    • Microsoft SQL Server
    • Oracle
    • Teradata
  • Predictive Analytics
    • FICO
    • KNIME
    • Mathematica
    • Matlab
    • Minitab
    • RapidMiner
    • Revolution
    • SAP
    • SAS/SPSS
  • Humor

Alphabet reports record revenue for Q4 2020 as Google Cloud sales soar

February 3, 2021   Big Data

How open banking is driving huge innovation

Learn how fintechs and forward-thinking FIs are accelerating personalized financial products through data-rich APIs.

Register Now


(Reuters) — Google parent Alphabet on Tuesday reported record revenue for the second straight quarter despite the pandemic, driving shares up 6% as it topped estimates for both advertising and Cloud sales as customers unleashed budgets for the holidays.

Cutbacks by travel and entertainment advertisers in 2020 were nearly made up as the year went on by new spending from retail clients and others that were driven online by COVID-19 lockdowns.

Google’s advertising business, including YouTube, accounted for 81% of Alphabet’s $ 56.9 billion in fourth-quarter sales, which rose 23% compared with a year ago.

Google’s Cloud unit also benefited from the pandemic. Google Cloud sales were $ 3.83 billion, or $ 13.1 billion for the full year, up 46% from 2019.

Analysts tracked by Refinitiv had estimated quarterly revenue of $ 53.1 billion and Cloud sales of $ 3.82 billion.

In a new disclosure, Alphabet said Google Cloud posted an operating loss of $ 1.24 billion in the fourth quarter and $ 5.6 billion for 2020, a 21% wider loss than in 2019.

Google, which generates more revenue from internet advertising than any company globally, has long faced questions over whether it can spin the cash from its advertising business into a newly profitable venture. The new financial details suggest that goal still may be years away.

Alphabet’s quarterly profit rose 43% to $ 15.2 billion, or $ 22.30 per share, compared with the average estimate of $ 10.895 billion, or $ 15.95 per share.

The company said it expects a $ 2.1 billion boost to operating results in 2021 after a new assessment extended the useful life of its servers and networking gear by a year or more.

Alphabet shares rose 6% to $ 2,035.95 in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The stock has risen by 9.5% so far this year.

Revenue growth slowing

Though Alphabet increased its cash hoard by $ 17 billion in 2020 to $ 137 billion, investors continue to scrutinize its growing expenses.

Alphabet’s costs to license programming for YouTube, operate data centers, and stock consumer products have soared in recent years. Those other costs of revenue now account for about 27 cents for every $ 1 in sales, up from 23 cents four years ago.

The company’s traffic acquisition costs, which include revenue-sharing agreements with Apple and other companies to distribute Google services, are growing more slowly than the other costs and have steadied at about 18% of sales.

Last year, the company slowed hiring and capital expenditures.

Alphabet’s revenue, which for years had consistently increased by about 20% annually, in 2020 increased by just 12.8%. That marked its slowest growth since 8.5% during the Great Recession in 2009.

The company remains undervalued compared with some rivals. Microsoft shares entering Tuesday traded at 10 times expected revenue over the next 12 months, and Facebook seven times, while Alphabet shares were about six times.

Google’s lead over the global internet advertising market is shrinking as Amazon becomes a bigger threat and China-focused vendors such as Alibaba enjoy a faster rebound from the pandemic. Last week, research company eMarketer estimated Google will capture 30% of the market in 2021 while increasing sales by 18% to $ 117 billion.

Google is fighting antitrust investigations or charges across Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America.

In addition, Google has threatened to pull its search engine from Australia if the country enforces new rules that would require the company to negotiate fair payments to news publishers to include their content in results.

Analysts also have expressed concern about potential revisions to content moderation laws under new U.S. President Joe Biden. Those laws currently favor companies such as Google.

Alphabet also is monitoring a nascent worker unionization effort and facing ongoing criticism about its underperformance in hiring and retaining women and racial minorities.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif. and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Matthew Lewis)

VentureBeat

VentureBeat’s mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative technology and transact.

Our site delivers essential information on data technologies and strategies to guide you as you lead your organizations. We invite you to become a member of our community, to access:

  • up-to-date information on the subjects of interest to you
  • our newsletters
  • gated thought-leader content and discounted access to our prized events, such as Transform
  • networking features, and more

Become a member

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Big Data – VentureBeat

2020, Alphabet, Cloud, Google, Record, Reports, Revenue, Sales, soar
  • Recent Posts

    • The Neanderthals
    • What the swarm of new Azure announcements mean
    • Importance of Integrating SharePoint and Dynamics 365 in an SMB
    • InfoWars Surrenders
    • Invest Your Time in the Right Skills to Become a Data Scientist in 2021
  • Categories

  • Archives

    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
© 2021 Business Intelligence Info
Power BI Training | G Com Solutions Limited