Google parent Alphabet said its overall sales rose 34 percent to $55.31 billion during the first quarter of 2021, indicating revival of business conditions.
Google said the number of employees has increased from 123,048 to 139,995.
Google ad sales surged 32 percent to $44.68 billion during the first quarter compared with a year ago. Google Search business generated revenue of $31.8 billion in Q1 2021 as compared with $24.5 billion the same quarter last year.
The results reflect elevated consumer activity online and broad based growth in advertiser revenue, Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said in a statement.
Google Cloud sales increased 45.7 percent to $4.04 billion.
YouTube advertisement business generated $6 billion revenue in Q1 2021 as compared with $4.03 billion in Q1 2020.
Alphabet’s quarterly profit rose 162 percent to $17.9 billion, or $26.29 per share. Earnings benefited from unrealized gains from venture capital investments and slower depreciation of some data center equipment.
The company’s operating margin rose to 30 percent for the first time since incorporating as Alphabet in 2015 even as its costs began to pick up again. Alphabet in 2020 suffered its slowest sales growth in 11 years but posted record profit and upped its cash hoard by $17 billion after slowing hiring and construction.
Increased ad buying by travel and entertainment companies would be a positive sign as hotel booking services and movie studios are among Google’s biggest spenders.
Google’s ad business, the global market leader as measured in sales, accounted for 81 percent of the quarterly revenue compared with 82 percent a year ago.
The operating loss for Google Cloud, one of the rivals to Amazon.com’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure, narrowed 44 percent to $974 million in the first quarter.
