Alphabet is increasing its stock buyback program by $70B
The Google parent is cutting back staff and real estate, but is increasing its stock buyback program.
Alphabet Inc. has increased its stock buyback program to $70 billion.
In a press statement announcing the first-quarter results, the internet giant said that the board of directors had authorized additional share repurchases. This move could represent a significant increase in the company's buyback program. The Mountain View company purchased $59.3 billion of stock in 2017 and $50.3 in 2021.
The company also announced that its results exceeded analyst expectations.
Investors seemed to be cheering the news. Shares of the company were up by 3.6% after-hours.
Alphabet posted a profit of $15.1billion, or $1.17 per share. This was lower than the $16.4 billion it made in the same period last year, or $1.23 per share. The company's revenue increased 3% to $69.8 billion despite the drop in income.
According to Sentieo, Wall Street forecast earnings of $0.07 per share on sales of $68.9 Billion.
Alphabet, under the leadership of Sundar Pichai as CEO, has been undergoing a major restructuring in recent months. The company laid off over 12,000 workers, including 1,600 employees in the Bay Area, and reduced its real estate portfolio, both in Silicon Valley, and elsewhere. The company's workforce was 163,906 at the end of the month, largely due to layoffs, compared to 190,711 one year earlier.
The company recorded $2 billion of charges for layoffs, and $564 million related to property cuts.
Alphabet has warned that it will "further assess its needs" and may reduce its real estate.
CNBC reported last week that the company had put on hold its massive Downtown West project in San Jose and cut the development team of the project as it reassessed its timeline for building the campus.
Google LLC, Alphabet's subsidiary that runs its search engine, YouTube, and YouTube-related services, reported a drop in advertising revenues to $54.6 billion from $54.7 billion during the same period last year. Google's display business revenue dropped over the period from $8.2billion in the first quarter of last year to $7.5billion. YouTube LLC's ad revenues fell by approximately $150 million in the first three months of this year.
Google's cloud computing division saw its revenue jump to $7.5 billion from $5.8 in the previous period. It also had a $191 million operating profit, compared to a $706 million loss.