Published 13:09 IST, April 29th 2020

Google's growth slows as pandemic infests advertising market

 Google reported its weakest revenue growth in nearly five years in the first quarter as the pandemic-driven recession began to shrivel its advertising sales.

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 Google reported its weakest revenue growth in nearly five years in first quarter as pandemic-driven recession began to shrivel its advertising sales.

January-March earnings for Google parent Alphabet offer a first look at how digital ad market has fared amid widespread orders requiring consumers to stay at home. Those restrictions have given most advertisers little incentive to market ir products and services.

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It’s an incomplete picture because ad demand in most parts of world wasn’t hit hard until late February and early March. That's when coronavirus outbreak accelerated and governments imposed lockdowns to fight it.

Alphabet's first-quarter revenue increased 13% from same time last year to $41.2 billion. While most companies would celebrate that kind of growth, it's a significant slowdown for Google, which has regularly generated quarterly revenue gains of 20% to 25%.

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company’s revenue growth hasn’t been this low since summer of 2015. That was before Google created Alphabet as a new holding company for itself and a hodgepodge of more risky tech ventures.

performance was still slightly better than revenue of $40.8 billion projected by analysts surveyed by FactSet Reearch.

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Alphabet earned $6.8 billion during quarter, a 2% increase from last year. company's stock climbed 3% to $1,269.50 in extended trading.

13:09 IST, April 29th 2020