Google parent Alphabet will pay its first-ever dividend next week, the company announced after publishing quarterly financial results. The dividend will be 20 cents per share.
The tech giant also announced a $70 billion worth stock buyback program. These announcements were welcomed by the investors who sent the stock surging nearly 16% in the post-trading period on Thursday.
Alphabet beat expectations for the quarter in sales, profit, and advertising. Revenue was $80.54 billion for the quarter ended March 31, powered by rising demand for its cloud services.
During the earnings call, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Google's AI offerings are crucial to its core search results. "We are encouraged that we are seeing an increase in search usage among people who are using the AI overviews," he said.
advertising sales rose 13% in the quarter to $61.7 billion, as Google Cloud revenue grew 28%. Alphabet's capital expenditures were $12 billion, a 91% rise from the same period last year. CFO Ruth Porat said that she expects expenditures to be at that level or higher throughout the remainder of the year, as the company spends to build AI offerings.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has initiated a formal investigation into Apple, Samsung, and Google regarding allegations that the companies have utilized patented audio technology without authorization.
SES has outlined strategic plans to establish direct-to-device (D2D) satellite manufacturing capabilities and a specialized supply chain within Europe in partnership with Elveo Mobile.
Automated systems and bots now generate more than half of internet traffic, forcing hosting companies to manage performance, security, and infrastructure costs at the same time. Ivan Čačija argues that business users are no longer buying only storage and computing resources, but the availability and performance of their own operations. AI will reshape both data-centre management and infrastructure requirements, while regional providers can compete through local presence, predictable costs and hybrid models. Fastserver sees its partnership with Blackwall as part of a broader shift towards an integrated platform combining infrastructure, security, traffic protection and automation.
