The American giant has garnered $ 76 billion in annual net profit in 2021, but against repeated charges of monopoly, in the United States and Europe.
Le Monde
Google Has 76 billion dollars (67 billion euros) for annual net profit in 2021, nearly double 2020, after a particularly fruitful holiday season for the online advertising giant, acknowledgment of monopoly illegal by various authorities. At the only fourth quarter, the US group again widely exceeded the market expectations, with $ 75.33 billion in sales, which he generated 20.64 billion net profits, according to his statement. Posted on Tuesday 1 er February.
“Our quarterly revenues, up 32% over one year, reflect solid advertising expenditures in all formats and the strong presence of online consumers, as well as substantial growth in Google Cloud revenues”, the branch. remote computing of the company, said Ruth Porat, the financial director of alphabet.
The world leader in online advertising had fallen slightly at the beginning of the pandemic, when some advertisers, like tour operators, had stored their campaigns and promotions. But the series of confines and digital habits adopted for almost two years have finally benefited Google and other technology companies, Apple to Meta (Facebook) to Amazon and Microsoft.
Telework and online commerce, in particular, allow the search engine and YouTube to always attract more brands that are careful to follow the consumer in the trace. In all, Google has garlicated more than $ 61 billion in advertising revenue, through online search and video platform, basically. Its cloud branch increased by 45%, at 5.5 billion turnover.
The action at over $ 2,900
And the group’s boss, Sundar Pichai, welcomed “quarterly sales records despite the difficulties of the supply chain” for pixel, his smartphone brand. Alphabet has released the Pixel 6 in the fall, a new range of devices with a processor designed by Google and many artificial intelligence features.
The company also indicated that its board of directors had approved a splitting of its action to 20 for one, in order to make it more affordable for small investors. The title took more than 7% during electronic exchanges after the closing of the New York Stock Exchange, more than $ 2,900.
“During the first three quarters of 2021, Google has achieved better than expected advertising results. (…) This shot the whole market up and led us to review our upward forecasts,” said Paul Verna, Analyst at Emarketer. The firm predicts that this growth will continue in 2022: digital advertising should report more than $ 171 billion to Google this year, or 30% of the world cake, right in front facebook (23.7% market share).
Cascading prosecution
This leading duo and advertising targeting methods have been aware of various years, complaints and fines for years. In Europe and the United States, the pace of prosecution has accelerated, without curbing the growth of Silicon Valley. The highest heads of Google and Meta (Facebook Mother House) are for example accused by US states for having an illegal agreement in 2018 to establish their dominance of the online ad market.
At the Congress, in Washington, elected officials focus on laws to end the monopolies of computer giants. Courts and parliaments are moving at a moderate pace. Two weeks ago, Google has appealed a decision of European justice that confirmed a fine of 2.4 billion euros inflicted by Brussels in 2017 for anti-competitive practices in the price comparison market.
But according to the Scott Kessler analyst of Third Bridge, “on the ground of the antitrust, alphabet will have to lead the most difficult battle of the big tech. Despite the size of Apple and the bad reputation of Meta / Facebook Google is perceived as the most troubled company in this area in the United States “.