Alphabet’s Revenue Fell for First Time Ever as Covid Hit Ads
- Marketers have pulled back spending especially on search ads
- CFO says sales started picking up again but not out of woods
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
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Alphabet Inc.’s revenue growth machine ground to a halt for the first time in the company’s two-decade history, stopped by the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing economic fallout that forced advertisers to pull back spending.
Ad sales, which make up the bulk of sales at the Google parent, were $29.9 billion in the second quarter, down 8.1% from the same period last year. That’s the lowest they’ve been since the third quarter of 2018 and the first-ever decline. The slide was a stark contrast to digital advertising rival Facebook Inc., which saw overall revenue grow 11% in the quarter.