Google’s first Alphabet earnings in charts
This post has been updated. Alphabet, Google’s new parent company, reported fourth-quarter results today (Feb. 1).


This post has been updated. Alphabet $GOOGL, Google’s new parent company, reported fourth-quarter results today (Feb. 1).
It’s the first time Google has reported results as Alphabet. The big takeaway: As expected, Google’s ad business is still driving the company’s revenue, profits, and growth. Alphabet’s “Other Bets,” which include Nest, Google X $TWTR, Google Fiber, and other businesses, generate very little revenue—by design—and cost the company a few billion dollars last year.
We live-charted Alphabet’s results this afternoon. Updates follow.
4:00pm: Alphabet (GOOGL) shares closed at $770.77, up 1% on the day. Shares are up around 16% since Google announced the restructuring in August 2015.
4:07pm: Alphabet’s release is out. No surprise here: “Other Bets” (Nest, Google Fiber, Google X, etc.) is a very small business, revenue-wise. You can barely see it in the chart.
4:12pm: The “Other Bets” are big enough money-losers to show up in the operating income/loss chart, though.
4:20pm: Alphabet’s headcount passed 60,000 for the first time, ending December at 61,814.
4:27pm: One thing the Alphabet reclassification did was move the “Other Bets” revenue out from Google’s “Other” segment, which includes non-advertising revenue from sources like Google Play. During the fourth quarter, advertising represented 90% of Google’s total revenue. Ads on Google sites represented almost 80% of ad revenue.
4:43pm: Let’s zoom in on Alphabet’s “Other Bets” revenue and operating losses. Sales were up 42% year-over-year to $151 million in the fourth quarter (Nest thermostats for Christmas?). But its operating loss nearly doubled year-over-year to $1.2 billion.
4:57pm: It’s official: Alphabet has passed Apple $AAPL to become the world’s most valuable company by market cap. Quartz’s Melvin Backman has more.