Google’s parent company Alphabet’s first-quarter profit fell by more than $1 billion compared to 2021

distance Record year 2021 With annual revenue of $257 billion – the first time it has exceeded $200 billion for a year – the parent company of Google Reports in a file (pdf) It started 2022 with first-quarter revenue that increased by 23 percent From the same period last yearto reach $68 billion.

However, with expenses higher compared to 2021, its net profit actually fell to $16.4 billion compared to $17.9 billion last year.

Google’s search business brought in $39 billion, a significant increase from first-quarter results of 2021 of $31 billion. The total advertising business, including search, YouTube and its various ad networks, managed to attract $54 billion in the first quarter alone.

YouTube ad revenue is up, too, to $6.86 billion, but has shown slower growth than it has been for the past two years during the pandemic. It grew about 30 percent last year, but it’s only up 20 percent this year as competition from TikTok continues to heat up. YouTube responded by Expanded support for short films for creators and viewersBut the growth did not live up to analysts’ expectations, and its share prices fell by about seven percent in after-hours trading.

In an accompanying statement, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said, “The first quarter saw strong growth in search and cloud, in particular, helping both people and businesses as digital transformation continues. We will continue to invest in great products and services, and create opportunities for partners. and local communities around the world.

In a call with investorsPichai noted investments in YouTube Shorts, with daily views reaching 30 billion, four times higher than last year, and that the company is focused on building a great experience while keeping an eye on what monetization could look like in the future. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said the company expects a “headwind” for growth as time spent on YouTube Shorts increases, ahead of increased monetization on the platform. We haven’t heard anyone say the word TikTok, but it was clearly looming over the conversation.

If you look at the way Google reports earnings, you know that it’s usually impossible to tell how well hardware products like the Pixel, Nest, Chromecast, and Android phone are performing. Android, Chrome, and all of Google’s hardware initiatives are grouped as “Google other” as a subcategory of Google’s overall services, which also separate search results and YouTube. The “Google other” category brought in $6.8 billion, an increase of $400 million from last year.

Revenues from Google Cloud, which just launched its own Media CDN based on the same backbone that holds YouTube videos, also rose to $5.8 billion from $4 billion last year.

Alphabet’s “Other Bets” consist of its pilot projects such as Waymo is a self-driving companyAnd Verily Health Incand Google Viber, generated $440 million in profit, more than double what it reported the previous year.

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