Google Experiences A Surge In Profits Amidst Lockdown

      

Image Credit – BBC

 

Google owner’s Alphabet has reported a spike in earnings in the first quarter of 2021 as the global pandemic continues to affect people and their daily lives.

The newt profits are said to jump by 162% to a record $17.9bn in the three months to March as advertising revenue swelled by a third.

This happened while the tech giant continues to face increased scrutiny over its power and the pandemic has people turning to the internet more than ever. They credited “elevated consumer activity online” for this exponential increase in profits.

Alphabet and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said “Over the last year, people have turned to Google Search and many online services to stay informed, connected and entertained”. Google’s search business jumped by 30% to $31.9bn in the quarter, while sales at YouTube leaped 49% to $6bn.

Sophie Lund-Yates, the equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Alphabet had “lapped up the rewards from the pandemic like a big cat pouncing on cream”. She said, “While famous for its start-up culture and offices, this tech giant is, rather unspectacularly, an advertising business. Covid means phenomenal sums of money have shifted to online shopping, so Alphabet’s impenetrable family of digital advertising businesses have seen revenue skyrocket.”

The latest dispute against Google emerged on Monday when streaming TV technology company Roku accused Google of engaging in anticompetitive behavior to benefit its YouTube and hardware businesses.

Meanwhile, US and European regulators continue to discuss tightening oversight of Google and other tech giants but have yet to agree on the legislation.

On the back of the strong results, shares in Alphabet rose by 4.5% in after-hours trading.

Although the tech giant is facing various issues regarding user privacy, Google still remains the go-to for almost all internet users around the world.

Covid has transformed the workflow of the world across every industry, and vertical. This has also affected the daily lifestyle of people. With everyone staying within their own homes or private spaces, the internet is the only way through which people can reach out to the outside world for any kind of information, service, or contact. The change has been apparent ad is being called the ‘new normal’ with people getting adjusted to staying indoors again after what everyone went through in 2020.

But who is to blame? The government or the total disregard for life has led to such a situation.

Google is the means for information and knowledge and people have been constantly using the platform for everything. Google is the information hub and a search engine that has changed the perspective of knowledge access altogether.

Although the company remains under various questions of the privacy policy and more, the common man cannot do without it. The increase in revenue is proof of how integral it has become in our lives. As we enter yet another phase of technological and economic change, Google is set to offer more user convenience through its unending business scopes and more.