Google's corporate parent on Tuesday posted its slowest quarterly revenue growth since 2020, the latest sign that the huge gains enjoyed by technology companies during the pandemic are fading into the rear-view mirror.
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For most companies, the numbers announced by Alphabet Inc. would be a cause for celebration. But tech companies are sized up differently, with investors typically measuring them by how much growth they deliver each quarter compared to the previous year.
Alphabet's revenue during the January-March period totaled $68 billion, a 23% increase from the same time last year. That was the first time since 2020 that the company has reported as year-over-year revenue gain of less than 30%. The figure fell about $40 million below the average estimate among analysts polled by FactSet Research
The first-quarter profit drooped 8% from last year to $16.4 billion, or $24.62 per share. That was also below the average analyst projection of $25.47 per share, according to FactSet.
As usual, advertising funneled through Google's dominant search engine and a vast network that snakes through most of the digital economy. Google's ad sales totaled $54.7 billion, during the first quarter, a 22% increase from the same time last year.
