Google parent Alphabet on Monday reported its quarterly profit rose five percent to $4.92 billion on the back on strong online ad revenue.
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Alphabet said consolidated revenue jumped 17.8 per cent to US$21.33 billion (RM88.57 billion) in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, from US$18.10 billion a year earlier.
Among the specific product figures, Alphabet disclosed that Gmail, Google’s email service, has topped 1 billion active users for the first time, up from 900 million monthly active users as of May; the company also noted that its other services with 1 billion users included Search, Android, YouTube, Maps, Chrome, and Google Play.
The company’s combined share classes were then valued at $554 billion, beating Apple Inc (AAPL), which was worth around $534 billion and whose shares were slightly falling during extended trading. The company said its “other bets” category had revenue of $448 million and a loss of $3.6 billion.
Other Bets includes more experimental ventures such as self-driving cars and internet balloon programmes.
Alphabet subsidiaries include Google, Nest Labs, and Google X labs devoted to big-vision new technologies such as self-driving cars, along with such projects as smart “Google Glass” spectacles, drones, health care and Google TV – none of which has become a major source of income.
The move unveiled past year gives the tech giant more ability to focus on its core business, while offering startup-like flexibility to long-shot, trailblazing projects.
The strong showing was enough to push Alphabet’s shares up six per cent in after-hours trading, valuing the company at more than $554 billion US.
Alphabet posted a fourth-quarter profit of 4.9 billion United States dollars (£3.4 billion) on Monday, up from 4.7 billion U.S. dollars (£3.3 billion) a year ago.
“The core business is cranking along and picking up speed”.
What was important here was that Google has sorted out its problems with mobile advertising and searches.
Google’s advertising revenue increased almost 17 per cent to US$19.08 billion, while the number of ads, or paid clicks, rose 31 per cent, the company said.
This yielded an operating income of $23bn from the Google operations for the full year 2015.
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And, as Google continues to rake in money thanks to advertising, the other arms of the parent company seem to excel at generating a lot of buzz.
