Alphabet revenue misses projections

Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., boosted its earnings by 37% during the third quarter, but that wasn’t enough to reassure investors worried about tougher regulations that could make it harder to collect the personal information that fuels the company’s advertising network.

Driven by the digital ads that bring in most of Google’s revenue, Alphabet earned $9.2 billion during the three months that ended in September, up from $6.7 billion in last year’s third quarter. That translated into $13.06 per share in the last quarter, well above the average estimate of $10.54 among analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

But Alphabet’s revenue fell shy of analyst projections. After ad commissions, it totaled $27.16 billion, more than $150 million below analysts’ predictions. Alphabet’s stock price shed nearly 4% in after-hours trading, falling to $1,056.47. That share price has fallen 9% over the last three weeks.

In addition, Google’s ad sales on its own services slowed, feeding concerns that people increasingly are searching for things on Amazon.com’s e-commerce site when they’re shopping — something that could cause advertisers to spend their money elsewhere. Google’s ad empire could be hindered if regulators adopt tougher privacy laws impeding its ability to vacuum up personal information about the billions of users hooked on its free services, which include its search engine, YouTube, Gmail and digital maps.

Meanwhile, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sought to reassure employees after a New York Times report said former Android chief Andy Rubin was paid millions of dollars when he left following allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct. In the last two years, 48 people have been terminated for sexual harassment, including 13 senior managers and above, Pichai wrote in an email to staff. None of them received an exit package, he added.