Google parent Alphabet Inc beat fourth-quarter sales expectations on Tuesday as the search giant’s internet advertising, cloud computing and hardware businesses benefited from holiday shopping, sending shares up more than 7% in after-hours trading.
The results were the latest to signal that the global trend toward a more digital economy has made Big Tech companies resistant to small-market shocks.
The company also announced a 20-for-one stock split, in which shareholders as of July 1 this year will receive a dividend of 19 additional shares.Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat told CNBC that the company aimed to make shares accessible to more traders. Others including Amazon.com Inc and Byte Dance’s TikTok have been taking small pieces of Google’s share of the global advertising market.
Alphabet’s quarterly profit was $20.6 billion or $30.69 per share, beating expectations of $27.56 per share and marking a fourth-straight quarter of record profit.