Growth across the board: Alphabet revenues $85 billion in Q2 thanks to search and AI

Google parent Alphabet reported revenue of $85 billion for the second quarter of 2024, with net income rising to $23.6 billion, up significantly from $18.4 billion in the second quarter of last year. The growth is driven by the success of its search engine, advertising technology and cloud service Google Cloud, which surpassed $10 billion in revenue for the first time.

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According to The Verge, citing a financial report, search advertising revenue was $48.5 billion, and total advertising revenue reached $64.62 billion, up significantly from $58.14 billion in the same period last year. The cloud business brought the company $10 billion in revenue and $1 billion in operating profit. Google CEO Sundar Pichai noted during the quarterly earnings call that the company’s generative AI solutions “have generated billions of dollars in revenue and are used by more than 2 million developers.”

Pichai, in a letter to investors, emphasized: “We are innovating at every level of the AI ​​stack. Our infrastructure leadership and in-house research teams position us well as technology advances and opportunities emerge.”

After reaching a $2 trillion market cap in April, Google began rolling out AI Overviews in search based on its large Gemini language model. However, users found that the tool produced strange responses to some queries, which is why the function had to be partially disabled for an unspecified period. However, Pichai says the introduction of AI Overviews has led to increased search usage and improved user satisfaction with the results.

At the same time, Google abandoned plans to completely phase out third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. Instead, users will be asked to “make informed choices that will apply to their entire personal web browsing experience.” Pichai emphasized that “user choice is the best way forward” and that the company will continue to invest in privacy-enhancing technologies based on feedback from ecosystem participants.

Other areas of Alphabet also showed significant growth. Google advertising revenue rose to $64.6 billion, YouTube advertising revenue increased 13% year over year to $8.6 billion. The subscriptions, platforms and devices division earned $9.3 billion. Google is expected to receive more one big boost to growth following the August unveiling of new devices including the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.