(Reuters) – Google-parent Alphabet Inc’s first-quarter revenue exceeded market expectations on Tuesday, boosted by an uptick in advertising and steady demand for its cloud services
The company also announced a $70 billion share buyback plan, sending its shares higher by about 3% in extended trading.
Advertisers, who contribute the bulk of Alphabet’s sales, have been shifting budgets to proven platforms such as Google’s products and YouTube from untested advertising models. The company, meanwhile, has been looking to keep a tight control on costs amid recession fears and had in January decided to cut about 12,000 jobs. It has also been sharpening focus on artificial intelligence in its race to gain lost ground from Microsoft Corp’s Bing and the Windows-maker backed ChatGPT maker, OpenAI.
Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 stood at $69.79 billion compared with estimates of $68.95 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
It reported net profit of $15.05 billion for the first three months of the year compared with $16.44 billion a year earlier.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
