Alphabet went into its earnings report on Thursday facing concerns about the growth of its core Google ads business and the company’s ability to generate profits from its hefty investments in artificial intelligence.
For the time being at least, the company put Wall Street’s fears to rest.
Alphabet topped analysts’ estimates, reporting revenue growth of 15% for the quarter, the fastest rate of expansion since early 2022. Ad sales at YouTube jumped 20%, also beating expectations.
Questions have been swirling about the future of Google’s online ads, because the biggest revenue driver remains search, which is under pressure as new generative AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT offer consumers new ways to access information.
“We’re very pleased with momentum of our ads businesses,” Alphabet finance chief Ruth Porat said on Thursday’s earnings call after the report. “Search had broad-based growth.”
Alphabet shares jumped 12% in extended trading, pushing the company’s market cap past $2 trillion. Prior to the report, the stock was up 12% for the year, ahead of the Nasdaq Composite but trailing some mega-cap peers like Meta, Nvidia and Amazon.
First-quarter results showed the core advertising business is reaccelerating after a difficult 2022 and 2023, when brands reeled in spending to contend with rising interest rates and inflationary concerns. Growth is spread across the digital ad market, with Meta reporting 27% growth for the first quarter, the fastest since 2021, and Snap reporting growth of 21%, a level not seen since early 2022.
Alphabet has been on a cost-cutting spree since last year in anticipation of slower ad growth and increased spending on AI, where competition has grown rapidly in the last year. The company has also experienced a series of apparent missteps tied to the rushed launch of various AI products.
There were other reasons for skepticism ahead of Alphabet’s earnings report.
Investors turned on Meta after its first-quarter report on Wednesday, sending the stock down as much as 19% in extended trading. CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened the investor call saying he planned to spend billions of dollars investing in areas like artificial intelligence and the metaverse, even though Meta counts on advertising for 98% of its revenue.
Like Meta, Alphabet is pouring money into AI. But its investments are turning into sales.
Revenue in Google Cloud, which houses much of the company’s AI technology, jumped 28% from a year earlier to $9.57 billion, sailing past estimates. Operating income more than quadrupled to $900 million, showing that Google is finally generating substantial profits after pouring money into the business for years to keep up with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
Last month, Alphabet announced a suite of products, including Vertex AI, a no-code console for enterprise companies to build their own AI agents.
“There were a lot of questions last year and, you know, we always felt confident and comfortable that we would be able to improve the user experience,” CEO Sundar Pichai said on Thursday’s earnings call.
Pichai said he’s seen “early confirmation” that the company can use AI to expand search’s capabilities, citing rollouts in the U.S. and the U.K. He said the company can both manage spending and monetize AI tools at the same time in the coming quarters.
To show how confident the company is in its financial position, Alphabet announced its first-ever quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share and a plan to repurchase an additional $70 billion in stock.
With first-quarter results in the rearview mirror, Alphabet now has to keep up with heightened expectations, which will only increase as competitors roll out more generative AI products. The company also only has a couple more quarters in which growth will be comparable to some of its weakest results on record.
“We’re in a new cost reality,” Prabhakar Raghavan, a senior vice president who oversees search, said at a recent all-hands meeting, urging employees to work more efficiently.
With generative AI, the company is “spending a ton more on machines,” Raghavan added, saying organic growth is slowing and the number of new devices coming into the world “is not what it used to be.”
A Tesla Cybertruck sits on a lot at a Tesla dealership on April 15, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Tesla shares slid more than 2% Tuesday after a report that the electric vehicle maker was halting production of Cybertruck and Model Y models for a week in Austin, Texas.
The production stoppage begins June 30, Business Insider reported, citing a staff meeting where the announcement was made. The pause, which is for maintenance on production lines, would be the third such shutdown at the Austin facility in the past year, according to BI.
Tesla is tentatively launching the robotaxi in Austin on June 22, using Model Y vehicles equipped with a new version of the company’s “Full Self-Driving” technology.
CEO Elon Musk shared a video clip on X last week of a Model Y robotaxi on a road in Austin, adding to the buzz for the promised launch.
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CNBC has reached out to Tesla for comment on the reported pause.
The two new features, announced Monday in a post during the Cannes Lions festival, will help brands better leverage discussions on the platform. The company said the tools are powered by an engine called Reddit Community Intelligence that turns “posts and comments into structured intelligence.”
Reddit announced a “listening tool” called Reddit Insights, which shares real-time insights with marketers to help them identify trends and launch campaigns. The other tool, called Conversation Summary Add-ons, allows brands to show “positive” user content under their ads.
“These are tools for a new era of community marketing, one where brands can tap into Reddit’s authenticity and connect meaningfully with high-intent communities around the world,” the company wrote.
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The company said Publicis served as the exclusive alpha tester for Reddit Insights, while Lucid and Jackbox Games were among the early testers for Conversation Summary Add-Ons.
Companies across industries are betting on new ways to harness AI to improve advertising campaigns and better engage with users. These new tools are transforming the industry while also putting pressure on some advertising stalwarts.
The industry is also currently navigating a bumpy environment spurred by the trade war with China.
During the recent earnings season, many companies warned of sluggish advertising sales in certain regions due to a rocky macroeconomic environment. Recent developments, however, have suggested a cooling of tensions between the U.S. and China.
Last month, Reddit posted strong sales and upbeat guidance. The company has benefited from recent changes to Google search and internal site improvements, which include convincing logged-out users to open accounts. Logged-in accounts are more beneficial to advertisers.
European defense technology startup Helsing on Tuesday said that it’s raised 600 million euros ($693.6 million) in a bumper new round of funding.
The investment was led by Prima Materia, the venture capital firm founded by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and by Shakil Khan, an early investor in the popular music streaming app. Ek is also chairman of Helsing.
Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst and Saab also put money in, alongside new investors BDT & MSD Partners.
Defense and the technology behind it have become a hot area for investors lately, amid major global conflicts, including the Ukraine war to Israel-Gaza. Last week saw a further escalation of war in the Middle East as Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran.
In 2024, venture funding in Europe’s defense, security and resilience sector reached an all-time high of $5.2 billion, according to a recent report from the NATO Innovation Fund. The sector grew 30% in the past two years, outperforming the broader VC market, which saw a 45% decline over the same period.
Founded in 2021, Helsing sells software that uses artificial intelligence technology to analyze large amounts of sensor and weapons system data from the battlefield to inform military decisions in real time. Last year, the startup also began manufacturing its own line of military drones, called HX-2.
Helsing, which operates in the U.K., Germany and France, said it would use the fresh cash to invest in Europe’s “technological sovereignty” — which refers to attempts to onshore the development and production of critical technologies, such as AI.
“As Europe rapidly strengthens its defence capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investments in advanced technologies that ensure its strategic autonomy and security readiness,” Ek said in a statement out Tuesday.
Helsing did not disclose its new valuation following the latest financing round, which is subject to “certain approvals,” according to a statement. The firm was previously valued at around 5 billion euros in a 450 million euro funding round led by General Catalyst last year.