Alphabet Shares Rise on Revenue Beat As Ad Sales Recover
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Google parent Alphabet Inc. reported first-quarter results that exceeded analysts’ estimates, as the company’s dominant search business weathered the economic downturn and its cloud unit turned a profit for the first time.
Shares rose on news that Alphabet’s sales, excluding partner payouts, were $58.07 billion in the quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of $56.98 billion. Search advertising performed well even as Google faces heightened competitive threats from Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI, which are challenging the search giant through conversational chatbots using artificial intelligence.