- As corporations trimmed advertising budgets, Alphabet, which controls Google and YouTube, reported 6% sales growth to $69bn in the three months to September.
- Outside of the epidemic, it was the US firm’s lowest quarterly increase in nearly a decade.
- Meanwhile, Microsoft reported lower demand for its laptops and other products.
- Its revenues increased 11% to $50.1bn, its weakest growth in five years.
- As prices increase and interest rates rise, consumers and businesses worldwide are cutting back, raising fears of a global recession.
- Alphabet’s quarterly profits fell nearly 30% to $13.9bn as YouTube ad revenues fell for the first time since the company began publicly reporting them.
- For five quarters, sales growth has stalled.
- Alphabet was “sharpening” its focus and “being attentive to the economic situation,” according to CEO Sundar Pichai.
