- Crisis-hit Valencia hire West Brom's Corberan as new boss
- Suriname ex-dictator and fugitive Desi Bouterse dead at 79
- 35 feared dead as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Pope calls for 'arms to be silenced' in Christmas appeal
- Syria authorities say torched 1 million captagon pills
- Pope calls for 'arms to be silenced' across world
- 32 survivors as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Pakistan air strikes kill 46 in Afghanistan, Kabul says
- Liverpool host Foxes, Arsenal prepare for life without Saka
- Japan FM raises 'serious concerns' over China military buildup
- Pope's sombre message in Christmas under shadow of war
- Zelensky condemns Russian 'inhumane' Christmas attack on energy grid
- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Pope kicks off Christmas under shadow of war
- Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold
- Japan's top diplomat in China to address 'challenges'
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
Google-parent Alphabet sees quarterly profit slip
Shares in Google's parent company Alphabet sank Tuesday after the internet giant reported that earnings in the recently ended quarter missed market expectations, with profit down from a year earlier.
Alphabet reported net income of $16.4 billion in the first quarter on revenue that climbed 23 percent to $68 billion when compared to the same period last year. Alphabet profit was $17.9 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
Shares sank nearly five percent to $2,257 on the news.
The quarter brought strong growth in Alphabet's search and cloud computing businesses while the company continued to invest heavily in products and services, chief executive Sundar Pichai said in an earnings release.
While Alphabet saw revenue from online ads climb to more than $46 billion, the cost of acquiring online "traffic" that helps fuel that income was up some $2 billion from the same period a year ago, the earnings report showed.
Alphabet's ranks of employees grew to just shy of 164,000 people from 140,000 people in the same quarter last year.
The Silicon Valley titan also continued to pour money into data centers and parts of its operations that power its cloud computing services.
"We are pleased with Q1 revenue growth of 23% year over year," said Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat.
"We continue to make considered investments in Capex, (research and development) and talent to support long-term value creation for all stakeholders."
- YouTube squeeze -
Insider Intelligence principal analyst Paul Verna told AFP that while Google's search business remained a "bright spot" at the company, earnings at video-sharing website YouTube were "a big miss."
"TikTok has become a significant competitive threat," Verna said of the pressure on YouTube.
"On the connected television side, there is a lot of competition from other platforms that have entered the space."
Alphabet is also dealing with challenges facing the broader market, such as inflation that has advertisers more carefully minding marketing budgets, Verna said.
The tech firm is also dealing with "natural consequences" of coming out of a pandemic that boosted online activity to degrees not truly sustainable, the analyst added.
"In that light. I don't think today's results are disastrous by any means," Verna said.
Alphabet remains a market leader in search and strong in video, he said, "but there's just a saturation limit to growth."
- Privacy labels -
Meanwhile, Alphabet put out word Tuesday that it was adding labels to apps available at its Play Store to let users of Android-powered mobile devices see what kinds of data is collected about their activities.
"Users want to know for what purpose their data is being collected and whether the developer is sharing user data with third parties," Android privacy product vice president Suzanne Frey said in a blog post.
"That's why we designed the Data safety section to allow developers to clearly mark what data is being collected and for what purpose it's being used."
Google last week announced it was starting to roll out an option for European users to reject "cookies" with a single click, months after it was slapped with a massive fine.
Google, along with Facebook, has faced an onslaught of legal cases and punishments over its use of web-tracking technology, which breaches EU privacy legislation.
Cookies are packets of data installed on a user's computer that allow browsers to save information about their session.
"We have completely overhauled our approach, including changing the infrastructure we use to manage cookies," the US giant wrote in a blog post.
Google committed to changing its practices after French data watchdog CNIL slapped it with a 150-million-euro ($162 million) fine in January.
O.Norris--AMWN