Alphabet, the parent company of Google, said revenues for first quarter lifted to USD 36.339 billion from 31.146 billion the year before, an increase of 17 percent that was a bit slower than previous quarters. Profit was hit by the EUR 1.5 billion fine from the European Commission for anti-competitive practices with its AdSense for Search product. This meant that the operating profit fell to USD 6.608 billion from 7.633 billion, while the net profit sank to USD 6.657 billion from 9.401 billion, with diluted earnings per share at USD 9.50 from 13.33. Without the fine, the operating profit would have reached USD 8.305 billion and the net profit USD 8.339 billion. Finally, the operating margin slipped to 18 percent from 25 percent.
R&D expenses went higher to USD 6.29 billion from 5.039 billion as Google invests in new business areas. Including the fine and other costs, total costs and expenses for the quarter lifted to USD 29.731 billion from 23.513 billion. Still, the company’s cash position at the end of Q1 was up at USD 19.148 billion, from 12.658 billion the year earlier.
All segments contributed to revenues, with Google revenues lifting to USD 36.169 billion from 30.996, including advertising revenues up to USD 30.720 billion from 26.642 billion. The net profit here advanced to USD 9.325 billion from 8.368 nillion. At Other Bets, revenues went up to USD 170 million from 150 million but the net loss widened to USD 868 million from 571 million. Meanwhile, traffic acquisition costs went a bit higher, to USD 3.477 billion from 3.386 billion, though they made up less of revenues than the year earlier, at 22 percent from 24 percent.
Alphabet paid a higher tax rate this quarter, to 18 percent from 11 percent The number of employees in the quarter rose to 103,459 from 85,050 the year earlier.
