By Paresh Dave and Nivedita Balu
BENGALURU, India (Reuters) – Google parent Alphabet fared worse than Wall Street had expected in its first quarterly earnings report since the start of the pandemic, pressured by reduced investment from advertisers amid heightened fears of a slowdown. global economy.
The company had first-quarter revenue of $68.01 billion, up 23% from the same period a year ago, but below the average revenue expected by industry analysts of $68.1 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Earnings for the quarter amounted to $16.436 billion or $24.62 per share. Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of $25.76 per share.
Alphabet shares fell 6.5% in extended trading after the results were published.
The numbers show that Google is struggling in the last economic phase of the pandemic, which is bringing higher interest rates, higher costs and shortages of a number of products.
Google is expected to have a 29% share, the largest share, of the global online advertising market in 2022, estimated at $602 billion. If confirmed, it will be the company’s 12th consecutive year of leadership in the industry, according to Insider Intelligence.
Alphabet shares are down more than 17% this year. But in the last two years the shares have appreciated by almost 90%.
Alphabet has repurchased more than $81 billion worth of stock in the past two years. On Tuesday, the company’s board of directors authorized another $70 billion in buybacks.
