San Francisco (AFP)
After Facebook and Apple last week, Amazon and Google delivered their health check for the last quarter of 2020 on Tuesday, confirming for the first its hold on the internet advertising market and for the second its domination of online commerce.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, far exceeded expectations in the last quarter of 2020, with net income of $ 15.2 billion, up 50% year-on-year.
The company has garnered a turnover of 56.9 billion, 10 billion more than a year ago, and well beyond the 53 billion expected by analysts.
Its title appreciated by nearly 7% during electronic trading after the close of the stock market.
These solid results "were boosted by Search (Google's search engine, editor's note) and YouTube while our customer and commercial activity rebounded from the start of the year," said Ruth Porat, director, in a statement. Alphabet Financial.
Like its rivals Amazon, Apple or Facebook, Google has strengthened itself during the pandemic, the demand for its services being even stronger with the various containment measures.
The tech giant is above all the world leader in the online advertising market.
Google collected $ 46 billion in advertising revenue in the last quarter of 2020, including nearly $ 7 billion generated on the YouTube video sharing platform.
In the spring, the Californian group had stumbled, with a net profit lower than that of 2019, because of its exposure to the advertising budgets of large advertisers hard hit by the pandemic, such as tour operators.
He has since recovered.
"The three main categories of advertising revenue exceeded our expectations, including YouTube, which increased 46% in the 4th quarter compared to the previous year," notes Nicole Perrin, analyst at eMarketer.
This research firm forecasts 116.7 billion net advertising revenue for Google in 2021 (+ 18.4% over one year), or nearly 30% of this market.
The cloud computing branch generated $ 3.8 billion from October to December, up $ 1.2 billion from the previous year.
"Our strong results this quarter show how our products and services are helping people and businesses, while accelerating the transition to digital services and the cloud," said Alphabet and Google boss Sundar Pichai.
- Record revenues for Amazon -
Amazon, for its part, exceeded 100 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in its history and saw its profit double in the fourth quarter of 2020, to 7.2 billion dollars.
The e-commerce giant also expects profits of between $ 3 and $ 6.5 billion between January and March 2021, taking into account estimated spending of around $ 2 billion related to the fight against the coronavirus.
"Our data shows that Amazon has been used more than ever for the holiday season, especially by people who fear going to do their shopping in stores for health reasons," notes Neil Saunders of GlobalData.
The group's remote computing division, Amazon Web Services, also saw its revenues rise, reaching $ 45.4 billion in 2020.
"AWS is on the way to becoming a subsidiary generating $ 50 billion per year," said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.
Amazon stock was up about 1% in electronic trading on Tuesday.
The company also announced that its iconic founder, Jeff Bezos, will relinquish his role as CEO this year to focus on his role as chairman of the board.
“Amazon is (the company) it is because of inventions,” Bezos said in the earnings release.
"If you do it right, a few years after a surprising invention, new things become normal. People are yawning. It is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive," he continued.
"Amazon has never been so inventive, so now is a great time for this transition."
© 2021 AFP