Alphabet said third-quarter sales, excluding payments to distribution partners, were US$57.27 billion. That compared with the average analyst projection for US$58.18 billion. Net income was US$1.06 per shareless than Wall Street’s estimates for US$1.25 per share.As spiraling inflation crimps growth in digital advertising, Google and rivals such as Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Snap Inc.’s Snapchat are fighting for smaller budgets.
Search and other related businesses generated third-quarter sales of US$39.54 billion, compared to analyst estimates of US$40.87 billion. YouTube, which also fell short of expectations in the second quarter, is locked in a fierce battle for advertising budgets and users’ attention with ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok. YouTube released a short-form video platform called Shorts to counter the popularity of TikTok, but analysts say the company still has ground to make up.