San Francisco (AFP)

The American economy has entered a recession and industrial groups have lost billions, but Silicon Valley is resisting the pandemic and even posting insolent profits, like revenge the day after a hearing where American elected officials accused them of all the ailments.

Written on Wednesday on respecting the competition, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon published quarterly results Thursday largely above market expectations, showing how the digital economy is emerging from the pandemic.

Amazon emerges in the second quarter with $ 5.2 billion in net profit, double the level of a year ago, despite its 4 billion operating profit directly invested in the management of the health crisis.

"We have created more than 175,000 jobs since March (...) and sales by third parties have again grown faster than direct sales of Amazon", prided his boss Jeff Bezos, attacked the day before on his dual role of judge and party on the online sales platform.

The group has increased its delivery capacity by 160% and plans to invest two billion more to protect its employees and respond to the explosion in demand.

For Apple, Facebook and Google, analysts predicted slowdowns, because of the guesswork and also cuts in the advertising budgets of advertisers.

- Not even hurt -

But, visibly little affected, the manufacturer of the iPhone achieved nearly 60 billion in sales (+ 11%), and more than 11 billion in net profit, two billion more than expected.

Facebook's revenue also climbed 11%, to $ 18.7 billion, from which the California-based company released more than $ 5 billion in net income.

The opportunity for his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, to recall the major role played by the platforms at the time of the Great Containment, the day after a session of virulent questions from the politicians on his monopoly position.

"Imagine living this pandemic two decades ago, when the internet was born. Facebook did not even exist. (...) You would have had no connection with your friends and the economy in general," he said. - he assen during a conference call to analysts.

He even allowed himself to judge very disappointing that "the Covid-19 is gaining ground quickly in the United States", "because it seems that (the country) could have avoided this wave if our government had managed the situation better. ".

Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, is the only one to have stumbled. Its net profit reached nearly $ 7 billion, three billion less than last year.

The world leader in online advertising is more exposed than Facebook to large advertisers, such as tour operators, whose revenues are plummeting due to the coronavirus.

Its revenues fell some 2% to $ 38.3 billion - a billion more than expected on Wall Street.

- Not even afraid -

Alphabet leader Sundar Pichai said he saw "the first signs of stabilization".

"But of course, the economic climate remains fragile," he added, as outbreaks of Covid-19 once again force some officials to take targeted containment measures.

For Facebook or Amazon, the return to "normal" is not necessarily reassuring.

The global social network, now used by nearly 1.8 billion people on a daily basis, acknowledged that its active user count could "drop slightly" in the third quarter.

Facebook is also boycotted at the moment by hundreds of companies, because of its moderation of content considered too lax, but the consequences for its revenues will undoubtedly be limited.

Amazon has also set the bar high. "Our revenue in the second quarter was higher than in the fourth quarter (the holiday season), it's unheard of," admitted Brian Olsavsky, Chief Financial Officer of Amazon.

But according to GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders, "these phenomenal results prove how shopping habits have changed during the pandemic, in the United States and around the world."

Apple, for its part, has confirmed the release of its new smartphone this fall, but a few weeks later than expected.

Nothing to worry analysts about. "The scene is set for demand, pent up during the pandemic, to explode this fall in favor of the iPhone 12," said Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities.

"They have too much power", indignant David Cicilline the day before, the elected Democrat who led the hearing of GAFA. "Some must be split, all must be better regulated and made responsible". Threats that already seem distant.

© 2020 AFP