Google Business Booms on Covid Reopening; Shares Soar to Record

Google’s results, showing a surge in ad sales related to travel and retail, offered a glimpse of online spending in a post-pandemic world: Businesses are boosting digital marketing to capture a public eager to resume something resembling normal life again.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. said first-quarter revenue, excluding payments to distribution partners, came in at $45.6 billion, pummeling Wall Street estimates. The company also unveiled a big new share buyback, sending the stock up as much as 5.5% to an intraday record high of $2,416.98.