Google’s parent entered the pandemic as a powerful advertising group and has emerged a titan. A lockdown-induced surge in consumer spending online has intensified the scramble among businesses to place their wares in front of shoppers’ eyeballs.
For Alphabet, the result was another consensus-beating rise in performance in the fourth quarter, when revenue rose 32 per cent and topped a bumper year for the group. Advertising revenue is the engine of its rapid growth, providing just over 80 per cent of the group total, as it dominates online advertising.
The technology powerhouse’s influence is vast. It owns the world’s leading search engine, the Android smartphone operating system and YouTube, the video platform. Like many of its Big Tech peers, it has faced multiple antitrust lawsuits.
