Google eyes other bets

saudigazette: 

A Google empire built on search shifted attention on Thursday to high-speed Internet networks, 360-degree video broadcasting and “other bets” as parent company Alphabet logged disappointing earnings. Alphabet said net income hit $4.2 billion in the first three months of this year, but shares sank more than five percent to $714 in after-market trades that followed release of the report.

Revenue in the quarter rose to nearly $20.3 billion compared to $17.26 billion in the same period a year earlier. The results “represent a tremendous start to the year,” said Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat. “We’re thoughtfully pursuing big bets and building exciting new technologies, in Google and our Other Bets, that position us well for long-term growth.”

In the financial report, Alphabet separates its money-making search engine Google from “other bets,” a category that covers the California-based company’s investments in diversifying into areas such as self-driving cars, high-speed Internet and smart homes. Revenue from Other Bets more than doubled in the recently ended quarter to $166 million, but an overall loss of $802 million was booked, according to the earnings report.

Alphabet earlier this year briefly vaulted past Apple as the world’s most valuable company, but on Thursday the iPhone maker was well ahead of its Silicon Valley rival in market capitalization.

The reorganization last year under Alphabet was aimed at providing more transparency to investors as the company moved into new sectors which may not deliver profits, and led to expectations that some of these “moonshot” operations could be discontinued or spun off.

Alphabet subsidiaries include Google, Nest Labs, and Google X labs devoted to big-vision new technologies such as self-driving cars, along with projects such as smart “Google Glass” spectacles, drones, health care and Google TV — none of which has become a major source of income. — AFP