Shares surge after tech giant issues first ever dividend and posts revenue of $80.5bn, up 15% since last year, despite staff turmoil Shares in Alphabe

Alphabet hails ‘once-in-a-generation’ AI opportunity as revenue rises

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2024-04-26 00:30:02

Shares surge after tech giant issues first ever dividend and posts revenue of $80.5bn, up 15% since last year, despite staff turmoil

Shares in Alphabet, the owner of Google and YouTube, surged after it issued its first ever dividend and revealed that profits had surged in the last quarter.

Sundar Pichai, CEO, hailed the transition to artificial intelligence as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” as his company races to integrate the technology across its business.

Google posted $80.5bn in revenue for the first quarter of 2024, up 15% on the same period last year, and reported $1.89 in earnings per share, up from $1.17 – surpassing analysts’ expectations on both counts.

Shares in Alphabet were up roughly 15% in after-hours trading. The company also announced its first dividend, of $0.20 per share, and said the payout would become quarterly.

“Our results in the first quarter reflect strong performance from Search, YouTube and Cloud. We are well under way with our Gemini era and there’s great momentum across the company,” Pichai said in a press release.