Global tech giants reported impressive results just hours after their leaders were branded as “cyber barons” by a US Congressional hearing.
The results from Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), exceeded expectations, demonstrating the hold of the tech giants on the customer purse.
Amazon doubled its profits
In the three months up to the end of June, Amazon’s year-on-year profits almost doubled. It profits nearly doubled to $5.2 billion on sales that rose to $88.9bn marking an increase of 40%
“This was another extremely uncommon quarter, and I couldn’t be more proud and thankful to our employees around the globe,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.
Sales grew in its operations in food, video, and cloud computing.
Amazon made it clear to investors that it intended this year to spend all of its profits on the costs related to keeping employees and customers safe during the pandemic.
Facebook’s profit witnessed a jump
Facebook posted a similar percentage rise with its revenues rising to $5.2bn compared to last year’s same time. Revenue rose 11% to $18.7 billion, indicating that the boycott of ads in connection with its handling of hate speech has had little effect on the world’s largest social media platform.
Income from Apple accessories increased
Apple’s income spiked 8% to $11.2 billion and revenues in the second trading period jumped 11% to $59.7 billion. iPhone sales increased modestly but sales of accessories and services such as apps and digital content increased dramatically.
The news is likely to thrill CEO Tim Cook as his company prepares to announce the next iPhone.
Alphabet beat market expectations
In its quarterly update, Alphabet posted a rare fall in revenue and profit but it still beat market expectations.
Profit dropped about 30% to $6.96 billion, with the company’s dependence on digital ads turning detrimental due to the COVID-19 induced fall in marketing spending.
The Chiefs of the world’s largest companies received a tight grilling US House of Representatives’ antitrust subcommittee hearing into their abuse of power and anti-competitive activity.
Facebook CEO, Mr. Pichai answered questions related to accusations of content stealing while Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon was questioned on data selling accusations. Facebook’s Zuckerberg was grilled over the platform’s aggressive acquisition of potential rivals. While Tim Cook was questioned on its treatment of an app named Random House, which was blocked from the Apple store after it refused to join Apple’s iBook services.
On being asked if they believed that China stole data from US companies, Zuckerberg and Bezos answered in the affirmative while Pichai and Cook did not deny the possibility.
The subcommittee is deciding whether stricter regulation is required for the tech giants, while its chairman was of the opinion that there is a need to break up the monopolies.
