Alphabet"s latest earnings call was somewhat bittersweet, as the company exceeded expectations yet again, but also faced a decline in profits owing to the record fine of £2.1bn ($2.7bn) imposed on it by the European Union. Google"s parent company brought in $26bn (£19bn) in revenues, a 21% growth year-over-year, while the profits for the three months ending June 2017 were $3.5bn, a 30% decline as compared to last year. Interestingly, without the fine, the profits would have been almost 40% higher.
The company is preparing an appeal against the verdict which, should the corporation be successful, could boost the company"s revenues in the future. On the flip side, however, the EU is also preparing to deal out another huge fine, which could spell out more troubles for the Mountain View-based firm.
Alphabet"s chief financial officer Ruth Porat said that the company was reviewing ways to address the regulator"s concerns, but further added:
"The main thing is we"re very focused on helping users and advertisers and are reviewing our options."
Alphabet"s main source of income, advertising, saw 18% growth over last year and contributed the lion"s share ($22.4bn) of the total revenue. Although, the cost per click (what Google earns for each click) declined 23% year-over-year, the company"s other ventures seem to be performing strongly. YouTube crossed the 1.5bn monthly active users recently, while its other revenue streams such as app purchases and cloud services also grew 40% to $3bn.
Source: BBC