Google’s parent company Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) has seen a significant boost in its stock price, rising by more than 11% in pre-market trading following the release of strong quarterly results. The company surpassed revenue and earnings estimates, with revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, reaching $67.59 billion, a 16% increase from the previous year.
CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the strong performance in key areas such as Search, YouTube, and Cloud, which has positioned the company for the next wave of AI innovation. In line with this focus, Alphabet announced a cash dividend program of $0.20 per share and approved stock repurchases of up to an additional $70 billion.
Alphabet’s cloud revenue also saw significant growth, rising by nearly 30% to surpass $9 billion. The company is actively working to claim a larger share of the cloud market, currently ranking third behind Amazon and Microsoft. Additionally, ad revenue, which is the core of Google’s business, rose by 13% to $61.66 billion.
To support its AI investments and research, Alphabet reported capital expenditures of $12 billion, with plans for similar levels of spending in the future. Google is committed to leading the shift to an AI-centric tech world by investing in AI infrastructure and research.
Overall, Alphabet’s strong quarterly performance and strategic investments in AI position the company for continued growth and innovation in the tech industry.
