Google made $31 billion in the first three months of 2018 despite ad values slipping

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, had an impressive start to 2018 according to its Q1 earnings report. 

Growing faster than “nearly every company of its size“, revenues are up, losses are down and the company has pledged to invest even more aggressively this year, in a bid to compete with Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.

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In the first quarter of 2018, the company’s revenue grew 26% year-on-year to a staggering $31.16 billion – a little above Wall Street predictions of $30.36 billion – despite a drop in the value of ads on the firm’s search engine and services. By comparison, between Q1 of 2016 and 2017, Google grew 22% and recorded $24.75 billion.

Elsewhere, Alphabet reported earnings of $9.93 per share, compared to $9.28 from Wall Street, and made $150 million, up from $132 million this time last year, on its so-called “other bets.” These include the investments and developments made into its Moonshots and “fringe” projects, such as driverless cars, AI advances with DeepMind and Project Loon. 

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The losses made on these projects also shrank to $571 million, down from $703 million in the first quarter of 2017. 

Summary of Alphabet’s Q1 earnings

• Revenue: $31.16 billion, up 26% YOY
• Earnings: $9.93 per share 
• Other Revenues: $4.35 billion, up from $3.27 billion in Q1 2017
• Other Bets: $150 million, up from $132 million in Q1 2017
• Other Bets losses: $571 million, down from $703 million in Q1 2017

Following the announcement, Google shares jumped 5% but have since flattened out.