Google’s parent company Alphabet exceeded analysts’ expectations in its first-quarter results, driving shares up by about 10 percent in morning trading on Friday.
CNBC reports that the tech giant reported earnings per share of $1.89, surpassing the expected $1.51, and revenue of $80.54 billion, beating the anticipated $78.59 billion. This marks the fastest rate of growth for Google since early 2022, with revenue increasing by 15 percent compared to the previous year’s $69.79 billion.
Google’s strong performance was driven by its core advertising business, which is showing signs of reacceleration after a challenging 2022 and 2023 due to economic concerns. Total ad sales reached $61.66 billion, up from $54.55 billion a year ago. The company’s cloud division also made significant strides, with operating income more than quadrupling to $900 million, demonstrating Google’s ability to generate substantial profits in this competitive market.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, speaks at Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco on 28 June 2012 ( KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GettyImages )
In addition to the impressive financial results, Google announced its first-ever dividend, with a cash dividend of 20 cents per share to be paid on June 17 to stockholders of record as of June 10. The company also stated its intention to pay quarterly cash dividends in the future, following in the footsteps of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which announced its first dividend in February.
Furthermore, Google’s board authorized the repurchase of an additional $70 billion in shares, showcasing the company’s confidence in its future growth and financial stability. The company closed the quarter with cash, equivalents, and marketable securities of $108 billion, slightly down from $110.9 billion a year earlier.
CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized Google’s leadership in AI research and infrastructure, as well as its global product footprint, positioning the company well for the next wave of AI innovation. The company has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence, incorporating generative AI features into its search and other services to adapt to the evolving ways consumers seek information online.
Google is also busy meddling in the upcoming presidential election. Breitbart News recently reported on the company’s strategy of “prebunking” ideas it considers misinformation:
The initiative, led by Google’s Jigsaw unit, which was founded in 2010 to address threats to open societies, will roll out a series of short animated videos in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland. These videos will demonstrate common manipulation strategies, such as scapegoating, polarization, and decontextualization, without focusing on specific candidates or parties.
“It works like a vaccine,” says Beth Goldberg, head of research at Jigsaw. “It helps people to gain mental defenses proactively.” The concept of prebunking, which originated in the 1960s with social psychologist William McGuire’s “inoculation theory,” posits that by exposing people to a dose of manipulative techniques, they can become less susceptible to false narratives.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
