Try as it might to talk up future-facing bets on cloud computing and self-driving cars, investors see Alphabet as one thing — a proxy for the global digital advertising industry. That’s unfortunate at a time of soaring inflation and heightened pressure on corporate budgets.
The more dramatic slowdown in revenue in the Google parent’s third quarter is an omen for even harsher trading conditions to come for advertising-reliant technology companies such as Alphabet and Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook.
The pace of revenue growth fell back to 6 per cent in the three months to the end of September, less than half the rate in the second quarter and far weaker than the 41 per cent boom in revenue growth over the same period last
