By Paresh Dave and Nivedita Balu
(Reuters) -Google parent Alphabet Inc fell short of Wall Street estimates for quarterly sales on Tuesday, its first miss since before the pandemic, as advertisers cut spending against the backdrop of rising worries of a global economic slowdown.
The world’s largest provider of search and video ads said first-quarter sales were $68.01 billion, 23% higher than last year but below the average estimate of $68.1 billion among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv.
Quarterly profit was $16.436 billion, or $24.62 per share, missing expectations of $25.76 per share.
Alphabet shares fell 6.5% in after-hours trading.
The results show that Google is struggling in the latest economic phase of the pandemic, which is bringing elevated interest rates, higher transport costs and shortages of products from couches to cars to infant formula.
Google is expected to grab 29%, or the leading share, of the $602 billion global online ad market in 2022, at least the 12th straight year it has been on top, according to Insider Intelligence.
Though Alphabet shares were down over 17% this year entering Tuesday, they have risen nearly 90% over the past two years.
Alphabet bought back over $81 billion in shares over the last two years and on Tuesday said its board had authorized an additional $70 billion in repurchases.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Matthew Lewis)
