Google Cloud sees huge surge in business despite overall loss

Google
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Google Cloud recorded a sizable jump in revenue as Alphabet posted its Q1 2021 earnings, which once again beat analysts expectations.

Overall, the company reported Q1 revenues of $55.3 billion, which is an year-on-year increase of 34%. Remarkably, its net income of $17.93 billion this quarter is almost three times of the net income it posted in the same quarter last year.

“Over the last year, people have turned to Google Search and many online services to stay informed, connected and entertained. We’ve continued our focus on delivering trusted services to help people around the world. Our Cloud services are helping businesses, big and small, accelerate their digital transformations," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.

Business as usual

Google Cloud contributed $4 billion to the company’s coffers in the quarter, which the tech giant attributes to an increased adoption of both its Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Google Workspace services.

Despite this increase, Google Cloud still continued to operate at a loss. However, it’s operating loss of $974 million is almost half of the $1.7 billion loss it posted in Q1 2020.

On the other hand, the bulk of the revenue came from Google Services, which brought in $51.18 billion from Q1 2021 sales. 

Further breakdown of the category brings another familiar picture with online advertising generating a staggering $44.6 billion in revenue. Importantly however, this is an year-on-year increase of over $10 billion. 

Google Search and YouTube ads also posted a healthy year-on-year increase with revenues of $31.88 billion and $6 billion, respectively. 

Mayank Sharma

With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’s TechRadar Pro’s expert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.