The losses were more than offset by its core search and advertising businesses
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, racked up US$3.6 billion in losses last year on investments in "big bets" such as self-driving cars and Internet balloons.
The company was known to be spending heavily on these items but revealed actual figures for the first time Monday when it broke out results separately for its core Google business and for big-bet investments, which it also calls moonshots.
The losses for those items were much higher in 2015 than in 2014, when they totaled $1.9 billion. And they brought in just $448 million in revenue last year.
Still, Alphabet says it stands to reap rich rewards in the long term if any of those bets pay off. They also include its investments in smart thermostat company Nest, Google Fiber, and medical science, including efforts to build a smart contact lens that measures glucose levels.
The losses from Alphabet's big bets were more than offset by the profits made by Google and its core advertising and search businesses. Google generated $23.4 billion in operating income last year, on $74.5 billion in revenue.
Google reorganized itself last year under a holding company called Alphabet, which consists of Google and then other business units that place long term bets on emerging areas. It said the move would provide more visibility into how its core search and ad businesses are doing.
Alphabet as a whole reported strong results for last quarter. Revenue for the three months to Dec. 31 was $21.3 billion, up 18 percent from the year before and higher than the $20.8 billion analysts had been expecting, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Net profit for the quarter rose to $4.9 billion. On an adjusted basis, net earnings per share was $8.67, up 28 percent and much better than the $8.10 analysts had forecast.
In this latest episode of our conversations over a cuppa with CMO, we catch up with the delightful Pip Arthur, Microsoft Australia's chief marketing officer and communications director, to talk about thinking differently, delivering on B2B connection in the crisis, brand purpose and marketing transformation.
There’s no denying there’s been a whirlwind of response to the imminent demise of the third-party cookie from all parts of the industry. But as we’ve collectively come to better understand the implications, it’s clear this change is giving the digital advertising industry the opportunity to re-think digital marketing to support core industry use cases, while balancing consumer privacy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed brands’ CX shortcomings and a lack of customer understanding. Given ongoing disruption, customer needs, wants and expectations are continually changing, also causing customers to behave in different ways. Just look at hoarding toilet paper, staple and canned food, medicinal and cleaning products.
Understanding the core principles of Behavioural Economics will give players in the travel industry a major competitive advantage when restrictions lift and travellers begin to book again. And there are a few insights in here for the rest of the marketing community, too.
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