Google Parent Alphabet Reports an Increase of 12% in Revenue
Google might be threatened with a breakup after losing two antitrust cases, but in the meantime it can console itself with piles of money.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, on Thursday posted revenue of $90.23 billion for the first quarter, up 12 percent from a year earlier. The net income increased from $23,66 billion to $34,54 billion. Analysts had projected revenue of $89.15 billion for the quarter, with earnings per share of $2.02.
The bottom line was significantly better. Analysts had projected revenue of $89.15 billion for the quarter, with earnings per share of $2.02.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said in a statement that the impressive results “reflect healthy growth and momentum across the business.”
The Mountain View, Calif., company also said it was raising its dividend 5 percent and authorized a $70 billion stock buyback. Stocks that had risen modestly before the earnings announcement rose after hours. The economic turmoil caused by President Trump’s tariff fervor was one reason. Google is a major advertising platform for Chinese ecommerce companies Temu and Shein. There is also an evolution of search driven by artificial intelligence that is giving Google competitors like OpenAI and Perplexity. Then there are the antitrust damages. In court, the appropriate remedy is being debated. This month, another federal judge ruled that Google had a monopoly in its online advertising technology.
Google is of course vowing to fight the antitrust cases until it achieves victory, but some analysts argue that it might be better to proactively break itself up. This view is supported by the past.
The federal government pursued IBM from 1969 to 1982 until it was dropped. IBM’s dominance was never regained. Researchers argue that IBM would have done better if they had settled down and allowed themselves to innovate. Microsoft is also a victim of the same argument. The software company prevented its own breakup on appeal in an antitrust case in 2001, but it, too, seemed to stall for a decade.
Google’s growth has been slowing, an inevitable consequence of its size and success. In the early years of Google’s existence, its revenue grew by 50 or 100% every year as consumer internet exploded. Now it is too big to grow fast. Now it is much too big to grow fast.
The research firm eMarketer published a note this week saying Google ad revenues, which increased 12 percent in 2024, would grow only 9 percent this year and 8.5 percent in 2026.
Regardless of the antitrust verdict’s outcome, “Google’s ad tech business is already in decline,” Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, an eMarketer senior analyst, wrote. The Google Network segment (which includes revenues generated by advertising tech assets) has experienced negative growth for 10 consecutive quarters.
