Google parent company Alphabet reported strong fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 results that exceeded analysts’ expectations, with revenue up 23%, reaching $56.9 billion for the quarter.
According to the latest financial results, Alphabet’s top-performing segments were its advertising and YouTube platform ($6.9 billion revenue), driven by retail and other businesses which invested more in online advertising, with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing more consumers to online channels.
For Q4 2020, Alphabet’s cloud business − which includes Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) − brought in revenue of $3.83 billion, as lockdowns drove companies to implement remote-working policies.
However, the cloud business posted an operating loss of $1.24 billion.
“Our strong results this quarter reflect the helpfulness of our products and services to people and businesses, as well as the accelerating transition to online services and the cloud,” says Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.
“Google succeeds when we help our customers and partners to succeed, and we see significant opportunities to forge meaningful partnerships as businesses increasingly look to a digital future.”
Alphabet shares jumped 8% to $2 067 in extended trading following the announcement yesterday.
For the full year, the cloud business brought in $13.06 billion, up 47% year-over-year from $8.92 billion in 2019 and $5.84 billion in 2018.
Google generates more revenue from Internet advertising than any other company, dominating rivals Facebook and Amazon.
However, in terms of cloud business performance, Amazon Web Services leads the pack, followed by Microsoft Azure.
Alphabet's "other bets" category, which includes the Waymo self-driving automobile venture and the Verily life sciences business, reported a profit of $196 million against an operating loss of $1.14 billion.
“Our strong fourth quarter performance, with revenue of $56.9 billion, was driven by Search and YouTube, as consumer and business activity recovered from earlier in the year,” says Ruth Porat, CFO of Google and Alphabet.
“Google Cloud revenues were $13.1 billion for 2020, with significant ongoing momentum, and we remain focused on delivering value across the growth opportunities we see.”
Share