Google Is Unharmed By Apple's Privacy Changes

Third-quarter results weren't an exception to the ongoing Big Tech's earnings boom as the surge in cloud computing fueled by the pandemic continued along with the rebound in digital advertising. Alphabet Inc GOOG.

Third-Quarter Figures

Revenue amounted to $65.12 billion, exceeding Refinitiv estimates of $63.34 billion.

Google's advertising revenue rose 43% to $53.13 billion compared to last year's comparable quarter and also slightly up from the prior quarter.

YouTube advertising revenue amounted to $7.20 billion below the expected $7.4 billion but still  40% YoY, showing a merely modest impact of these privacy changes.

Google Cloud revenue amounted to $4.99 billion, which was below the $5.07 billion expected. Although cloud computing missed lofty analysts' expectations, it still showed YoY growth of 45%.

Other Bets segment, which includes the self-driving car company Waymo, saw its revenue rise slightly from $178 million to $182 million, but losses widened from $1.1 billion a year earlier to $1.29 billion.

Alphabet also reported a gain on investments that increased from $26 million in last year's comparable quarter to $188 million.

Earnings per share amounted to $27.99 per share, exceeding Refinitiv estimates of $23.48 per share.

Traffic acquisition costs (TAC) added up to $11.50, versus the expected $11.16 billion.

However, chief business officer Philipp Schindler cautioned that there's a lot of geographical unevenness in the results due to the pandemic. He also said that YoY ad growth is owed mostly to retail, as well as media and finance spending.

Notes

The better-than-expected performance of the advertising business is painting an optimistic picture that Apple Inc AAPL privacy changes that make advertisers' jobs much harder won't be significantly dragging down its core business. That same sentiment was seen through results posted by Twitter Inc TWTR whose revenue rose 37% YoY to $1.28 billion. On the other hand, Snap Inc SNAP showed its revenue has suffered immensely due to these changes and even Facebook Inc FB who doesn't only depend on mobile devices was cautious about the future impact of these changes, but then there is also the effect of negative press caused by the recent Facebook Files scandal, along with the regulatory pressure. But Google is more protected than those companies because its owned Android operating system.

A Bitcoin Partnership

Two weeks ago, Google revealed it has partnered with Bitcoin and digital asset custodian Bakkt. As Bakkt users will now be able to use virtual Visa Debit cards with the Google Pay service with their crypto assets including BTC being converted to fiat to compensate the merchants, this partnership holds a promise of a new era of mass adoption. While this isn't a true Bitcoin adoption as payments will ultimately being fulfilled with fiat, the potential scale of use delivered by the Google Pay integration has gotten markets excited.

Another Great Year for Big Tech

Together with another tech giant Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Google posted revenues of $110.4 billion which translates to a combined growth of 33% compared to last year's comparable quarter. Sustainable demand for cloud computing as well as rebounding advertising sales due to the return of travel and retail shown in these results confirm that 2021 will be another banner year for Big Tech, with Apple and Amazon Inc AMZN expected to continue the trend on Thursday.

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