• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers

2

College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind

3

An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948

1

New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers

2

College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind

3

An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
TechAlphabet

Alphabet’s shares jump 8% after the coronavirus impact is less than feared

By
Danielle Abril
Danielle Abril
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Danielle Abril
Danielle Abril
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 28, 2020, 7:08 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Google’s multibillion-dollar ad machine is slowing as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a financial toll. And the worst is yet to come.

Alphabet, Google’s parent, reported $41.2 billion in revenue, up 13% from the same quarter last year and beating analysts’ expectations of $40.3 billion. While the news is better than expected, revenue is still slowing compared to the same quarter last year when it increased 17%.

Profits increased 3% year over year. 

But a bigger hit to Alphabet’s business is expected to come in the current quarter, when the effects of the coronavirus is expected to be much more apparent. Alphabet’s chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, said the company’s ads business was growing in January and February, but following the government shutdowns in March, ads sales experienced an “abrupt drop.”

“The second quarter will be a difficult one for our ad business.” Porat said without elaborating. 

The company said the big indicators of a move to normalcy will be how quickly people return to spending money, in general, which correlates with companies buying more ads. Porat also said there are “very early signs of recovery in commercial search behavior,” but she was unable to say what that impact may be. She also said it was “premature” to comment about how long any recovery would take.

Alphabet’s stock rose nearly 8% following the earnings announcement, to $1,232.59 per share. 

“They beat the low end of expectations and also performed better than feared from an investor standpoint,” said Jason Helfstein, an analyst at investment banking firm Oppenheimer.

Alphabet’s slowdown comes as advertisers, particularly airlines and hotels, slash their marketing budgets as the coronavirus cuts into their businesses. The tech giant is the top revenue generating company for digital ads, taking nearly 32% in market share in 2019. But the virus has quickly put a halt on digital ad spending, which is directly impacting advertising bellwethers like Alphabet. 

Last week, CEO Sundar Pichai sent a note to employees saying that Google would slow hiring for the rest of the year. During the earnings call, Pichai said he would continue to hire in “strategic areas.” Google has already hired more than 4,000 people since the fourth quarter, ending the first quarter with 123,000 employees. 

Alphabet also mentioned that it planned to slow some investments including in data centers and office space, which investors will applaud, said Dave Heger, an analyst at Edward Jones. 

Michael Levine, an analyst at investment research firm Pivotal Research Group, agrees.

“It just feels like they’re’ looking at stuff with a different degree of discipline than the prior regime,” he said. “The cost discipline is very encouraging.”

Alphabet also reported increases in revenue in its cloud data center division and YouTube ads, though it’s difficult to compare whether that business has slowed or grown compared to previous years. The company only began disclosing YouTube results in the fourth quarter of last year. In the first quarter, YouTube ads generated $4 billion in revenue, up 33% from the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, cloud division sales soared 52% from the previous quarter, raking in $2.8 billion in revenue.

Alphabet also saw increased use of several of its products. Those include search, which many people have turned to for coronavirus-related information; YouTube, which is attracting millions of views for live streams; and Google Classroom, a web service for educators that has doubled in use since the beginning of March. Google is also seeing a rise in sales of its Chromebooks laptops and the use of its video conferencing service Meet, which is now adding nearly 3 million new users daily.

“We’re taking a long view and continuing to invest in long-term priorities but are being thoughtful in the short-term,” Pichai said.

More must-read tech coverage from Fortune:

—Who is new AT&T CEO John Stankey?
—Work from home tips from the executive team that brought you Zoom
—Is A.I. better at diagnosing illnesses than doctors? Don’t believe all the hype
—Facebook debuts Zoom-like video chat feature called Messenger Rooms
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEO
—WATCH: Zoom’s ups and downs since the coronavirus crisis

Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.

About the Author
By Danielle Abril
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

small keyboard
InnovationOpenAI
OpenAI’s first hardware device debuted at $230. Now, it’s on eBay for $1,850
By Emily ForliniJuly 27, 2026
1 hour ago
Sam Altman thinks the singularity is already here, but an expert says OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach doesn’t prove it
AISam Altman
Sam Altman thinks the singularity is already here, but an expert says OpenAI’s Hugging Face breach doesn’t prove it
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 27, 2026
1 hour ago
Photo of Elon Musk
SuccessElon Musk
A Nobel economist challenged Elon Musk to donate his entire $1T fortune by 2036. Musk’s reply: ‘I am actually going to do something along these lines’
By Sydney LakeJuly 27, 2026
3 hours ago
Elon Musk’s vision of a post-money future got mocked. Vinod Khosla warns it could become a dystopia instead
AIthe future of work
Elon Musk’s vision of a post-money future got mocked. Vinod Khosla warns it could become a dystopia instead
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
4 hours ago
Dario Amodei looking to the side.
AIAnthropic
A trove of users’ seemingly private conversations with Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot showed up in Google search results
By Beatrice NolanJuly 27, 2026
6 hours ago
The war between competing AI models could end up more like Apple vs. Android than VHS vs. Betamax
AITech
The war between competing AI models could end up more like Apple vs. Android than VHS vs. Betamax
By Jason MaJuly 27, 2026
7 hours ago

Most Popular

New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers
Retail
New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers
By Sarah GlodekJuly 27, 2026
17 hours ago
College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind
Economy
College-educated women are snapping up the highest-earning men without college degrees, leaving the rest further behind
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 26, 2026
2 days ago
An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
Success
An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 25, 2026
3 days ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
3 days ago
I've been teaching college students for decades. Most of them can no longer finish a book
Commentary
I've been teaching college students for decades. Most of them can no longer finish a book
By Austin SaratJuly 26, 2026
2 days ago
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
C-Suite
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
8 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.