Alphabet released its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings today, with 2019 revenues hitting $162 billion. That’s an increase of 18% year over year, said Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google, in a statement.
The uptick pushed the company passed the $1 trillion market cap for the first time, but shares dropped 4% after the close of the market. Fourth-quarter EPS was well above what analysts were expecting ($15.35 versus $12.53), but revenue for the quarter was slightly under the mark ($46.08 billion versus $46.94 billion), according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC.
The bigger news was Alphabet’s sudden lurch toward transparency: For the first time, the company is breaking down revenues by business division, including for Search, YouTube ads, and Cloud, according to Porat. The company reported that YouTube generated $4.72 billion in ad revenue during Q4, up from $3.61 billion a year ago, despite growing controversies around toxic content and disinformation. Cloud generated $2.61 billion in revenue, an increase over $1.71 billion a year ago.
According to a Yahoo report citing RBC analyst Mark Mahaney, Google accounts for more than 70% of global search ad revenue. In its most recent figures, Alphabet reported Google’s ad revenue hit $37.93 billion in Q4 versus $32.63 billion in Q4 of last year.
This marks the official beginning of a new administration for the search giant. Sundar Pichai recently became CEO of the company, after cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down in December. Pichai’s appointment sent stocks up 10%, and Alphabet shares gained 29% overall in 2019, which Barron’s pointed out was “solid” but “lagged behind the 35% return for the Nasdaq Composite.”
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