Google parent company Alphabet reported stronger revenues and profit in the third quarter, with the positive momentum helped by mobile search and a lower effective tax rate. Revenues rose to USD 33.74 billion, up 21 percent from the year before and by 22 percent in constant currency terms. The operating profit advanced 25 percent to USD 8.31 billion, though the margin slid to 25 percent from 28 percent. The net profit jumped to USD 9.19 billion from 6.73 billion, with diluted earnings per share going to USD 13.06 from 9.57. The effective tax rate was lower at 9 percent from 16 percent year-on-year.
As in the previous quarter, all operations contributed to results. Google segment revenues, including Nest, went higher to USD 33.59 billion from 27.65 billion the year before. The figure includes advertising revenues, up to USD 28.95 billion from 24.06 billion, and non-advertising revenue, consisting of cloud computing services, Pixel-branded smartphones and the Play store; rising to USD 4.64 billion from 3.59 billion. Revenues from “Other Bets” climbed to USD 146 million from 117 million; this stream includes Verily, Google Fiber and Waymo. Traffic acquisition costs were unchanged at 23 percent of ad revenue.
By region, US revenues at constant currency made up USD 15.52 billion of the 33.74 billion total, with EMEA contributing USD 11.31 billion, APAC USD 5.54 billion and Other Americas almost USD 2 billion.
Total capex went higher to USD 2.35 billion from 1.76 billion. Cash and cash equivalents reached USD 13.44 billion in the quarter, from 10.58 billion the year before. Free cash flow amounted to USD 7.928 billion. The number of employees increased in the quarter, rising to 94,372 from 78,101.
