Alphabet Q2 profit triples to $9.9 bn

San Francisco: Google parent Alphabet’s stock price leapt on Thursday after reporting stronger-than-expected results driven by gains in online advertising. The Internet giant said profits tripled in the second quarter from a year earlier to $9.9 billion while revenues increased 19 per cent to $38.9 billion. Shares in Alphabet rallied some 8.6 per cent in after-hours trade on the report, which appeared to ease fears about slowing growth. Also helping shares was an announcement that the company would spend an additional $25 billion on stock buybacks. Profits were sharply higher than the same period last year when Google was forced to pay a $5 billion fine to settle antitrust actions in the European Union. Google accounted for the lion’s share of revenue and profits for the company with “other bets” — including its autonomous driving division Waymo and its life sciences and cybersecurity units — bringing in a modest $162 million in revenue with an operating loss of $989 million. Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat said the results showed “we’re delivering strong growth.” Google’s digital ad revenues rose 16 per cent from a year ago and accounted for $32 billion of the company’s revenues. Google is the dominant player in Internet search and as a result holds an estimated 31 per cent share of digital advertising, according to the research firm eMarketer. — AFP