Google’s ad revenue drops for the second consecutive quarter
Google’s parent company Alphabet has posted US$69.78 billion (A$105.18 billion) increase in revenue (up 3%) but a US$1.38 billion (A$2.08 billion) dip in profit in the first quarter of 2023, following a US$2.6 billion (A$3.91 billion) workforce and office reduction cost.
The revenue for the quarter ended 31 March compared to US$68.01 billion (A$102.51 billion) in the previous corresponding period.
[click to enlarge]: Consolidated financial results
In APAC, the regional revenue witnessed a 1% reported decrease year-on-year (YoY) to US$11.68 billion (A$17.6 billion) this quarter.
The net income for the period was US$15.05 billion (A$22.68 billion), with US$1.17 (A$1.76) earnings per share (EPS).
Advertising revenue results
In different segments, revenue for YouTube ads decreased to US$6.69 billion (A$10.08 billion) in this quarter, while the total Google advertising revenue dropped for the second consecutive quarter to US$54.54 billion (A$82.21 billion).
[click to enlarge]: Segment breakdown
The employee headcount at the end of the quarter was 190,711. However, this included most of the workforce impacted by the mass redundancy earlier this year, which Google said will be excluded from the headcount by the end of the second quarter.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, said: “We are pleased with our business performance in the first quarter, with Search performing well and momentum in Cloud. We introduced important product updates anchored in deep computer science and AI.”
The Board of Directors authorised a US$70 billion (A$105.47 billion) share buy-back.
In February, Google released its AI chatbot powered by LaMDA, Bard, following the release of ChatGPT, a Microsoft-backed AI chatbot that has become a global phenomenon.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is also expected to release its first-quarter results later this week.
Alphabet’s share price closed at US$106.78 (A$160.9) on 25 April. Its market capitalisation currently sits at US$1.33 trillion (A$2 trillion).
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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