Google ad sales leap, enriching Alphabet

SAN RAMON, Calif. — Google’s digital advertising network has shifted back into high gear, with its corporate parent reporting profit that more than doubled after an unprecedented reversal during the early stages of the pandemic.

The robust first-quarter advertising growth announced Tuesday provides the latest sign that advertisers are expecting the economy to roar back to life as more people get vaccinated against COVID-19 and burst out of their pandemic cocoons.

That is particularly true in the travel industry, a key part of the ad market that drastically curtailed its spending last year after governments around the world imposed lockdowns to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Google vast digital ad empire is now benefiting from that recovery.

The company’s ad sales surged 32 percent from the same time last year to nearly $45 billion during the January-March period. It’s the third consecutive quarter of accelerating ad growth for Google following an 8 percent decline during last year’s April-June period. That marked the first time Google’s quarterly ad revenue had fallen from the previous year since the company went public in 2004.

The resurgence enabled Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., to easily surpass the analyst estimates that help set investor expectations.

Alphabet earned $17.9 billion, or $26.29 per share, more than double what it reported the same time last year. The profit was inflated by an accounting change of $650 million, or 97 cents per share.

Total revenue, which also includes Google’s cloud-hosting service and device sales, climbed 34 percent from last year.

Analysts had projected earnings of $15.76 per share on revenue of $51.5 billion, according to FactSet.

Aside from the one-quarter downturn in ad revenue, Google has mostly thrived throughout the pandemic as people become more dependent on its services — a phenomenon that has strengthened other technology stalwarts such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Netflix.

Alphabet’s stock is trading above $2,300, nearly doubling since the pandemic was declared 13 months ago, leaving the company with a market value of nearly $1.6 trillion.

Google’s critics contend much of its success has come through anti-competitive practices tied to the dominance of its search engine, which has become the de facto gateway into the digital world. Those complaints culminated in a series of lawsuits filed by U.S. regulators last year in cases aimed at reining in Google’s ability to expand, if not forcing a break of its services.

But the main lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department isn’t scheduled to go to trial until September 2023, leaving Google ample time to extend its tentacles even further while fighting a case that it contends is unfounded.