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What’s Next for Big Tech?



Google’s Digital Ad Dominance

A number of large tech companies recently reported earnings. Here is an overview of what they shared and what may be coming next for these tech giants.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Google’s parent company, reported its highest-ever quarter for profit and sales. Its Q2 revenue was $61.88 billion, which marked a 62% year-over-year improvement. Much of this growth was due to companies pouring money into digital advertising on Google’s flagship search engine and other platforms which it owns, including YouTube and Maps.

Though Google is the leader in the digital ad space, other companies including Twitter (TWTR) and Snap Inc. (SNAP) are vying for market share. Retailers like Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT) are also working to up their digital advertising capabilities. Investors will be interested to see if Google’s digital ad dominance continues.

Amazon’s Post-Pandemic Conundrum

Amazon also shared strong quarterly results, despite the fact that its ecommerce business slowed as many consumers returned to shopping in person. Amazon raked in nearly $30 billion in profits over the past year. Investors are concerned that the tech giant will have difficulty matching or surpassing its performance in 2020 now that restrictions on businesses have eased.

Other arms of Amazon’s business besides ecommerce are seeing strong growth. Its cloud computing unit and its digital ad business is growing. The company is hopeful that these branches of its business will help make up for the downturn in ecommerce sales.

Apple and Facebook Look Ahead

Apple (AAPL) also beat expectations with its earnings and shared that its sales increased 36% year-over-year, with sales of its iPhones surging by almost 50%. But despite the earnings beat, Apple’s stock price fell due to concerns about how chip shortages could impact the company’s supply chains in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Facebook (FB) also surpassed expectations with its earnings report, though its shares fell on news that the company expects revenue growth to taper in the coming months. Facebook’s user numbers also climbed last quarter. In Q2 it had 3.51 billion monthly active users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—up from 3.45 billion in the first quarter. Tech companies have had a wild ride over the past year and a half as the pandemic altered consumers’ habits around the world. Investors will be eager to see how each of these tech giants continue to navigate volatile market conditions.

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ABOUT Meg Richardson Meg Richardson is a writer specializing in markets, technology, and personal finance. She loves breaking down seemingly complex ideas and making them readable and interesting for everyone. She holds an MFA in writing from Columbia University. When she is not writing about finance, she enjoys running in Central Park and drawing cartoons.


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