Despite strong growth in Google Cloud, Google’s parent company Alphabet saw its revenue declining for the first time to $38.3 billion (down 1.7 per cent from the year-ago period) in the quarter that ended June 30. The company reported a net income of $6.96 billion in Q2. Alphabet shares were up less than 1 per cent after the Q2 earnings report.
"We're working to help people, businesses and communities in these uncertain times," said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
"As people increasingly turn to online services, our platforms — from Cloud to Google Play to YouTube — are helping our partners provide important services and support their businesses," Pichai added.
Google Search and others logged $21.3 billion in sales (down 9.8 per cent) while YouTube ads posted $3.81 billion in revenue (up 5.8 per cent).
Google Cloud registered revenue of $3 billion (up a massive 43 per cent).
"In the second quarter our total revenues were $38.3 billion, driven by gradual improvement in our ads business and strong growth in Google Cloud and other revenues," said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google.
"We continue to navigate through a difficult global economic environment."
The company said it has authorised $28 billion more in stock buybacks.
It reported other revenue, which includes Pixel phones among others, of $5.12 billion, compared to $4.08 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
In the second quarter, Alphabet added around 4,000 new employees, taking the full-time workforce headcount to 127,498 during the second quarter. CFO Ruth Porat said that the company will continue to decelerate year-over-year headcount growth.
During the earnings call, when Pichai was asked about the on-going anti-trust probe into anti-competitive practices of the company along with Amazon, Apple and Facebook, Pichai reportedly said that scrutiny is going to be here for a while and that the company will adapt.