Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG) reported $109.9 billion in first-quarter revenue after the bell Wednesday, beating the $107.2 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG. The parent company of Google posted diluted earnings per share of $5.11, up from $2.81 one year earlier. LSEG had an EPS estimate of $2.63, but the release did not make clear whether Alphabet’s figure was directly comparable with that number. The quarter ended March 31, 2026, showed a company still growing from several sides at once. Total revenue rose 22% from $90.234 billion in Q1 2025, while constant-currency revenue grew 19%. Management called it the company’s 11th straight quarter of double-digit growth. Alphabet’s operating income increased 30% to $39.696 billion, up from $30.606 billion, and operating margin moved to 36.1%, a gain of 2 percentage points. Net income jumped 81% to $62.578 billion, while EPS increased 82%. Other income came in at $37.716 billion, mainly from net unrealized gains on non-marketable equity securities. Alphabet also raised its quarterly cash dividend by 5% to $0.22. Google Services drives Alphabet revenue as Search, YouTube, and paid products keep growing Google Services revenue increased 16% to $89.637 billion, compared with $77.264 billion last year. The largest piece was Google Search and others, which rose 19% to $60.399 billion from $50.702 billion. That is still the core money machine, no mystery there. Google advertising reached $77.253 billion, up from $66.885 billion, even as Google Network revenue slipped to $6.971 billion from $7.256 billion. YouTube ads brought in $9.883 billion, up 11% from $8.927 billion. Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices climbed 19% to $12.384 billion, compared with $10.379 billion in the same quarter last year. Alphabet said paid subscriptions reached 350 million, with YouTube and Google One leading that base. Traffic acquisition costs rose to $15.228 billion, compared with $13.748 billion, so growth came with a larger bill for traffic. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, said: “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full-stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.” He said Search had a strong quarter, with AI experiences lifting usage, queries reaching an all-time high, and revenue growth at 19%. He also said this was the strongest quarter yet for consumer AI plans, driven by the Gemini App. Google Cloud pushes Alphabet deeper into AI as GCP demand lifts backlog above $460 billion Google Cloud revenue rose 63% to $20.028 billion, up from $12.260 billion a year earlier. The growth came from Google Cloud Platform, enterprise AI solutions, enterprise AI infrastructure, and core GCP services. Cloud operating income also increased to $6.598 billion, from $2.177 billion. Sundar said the cloud backlog nearly doubled quarter over quarter to more than $460 billion. For crypto readers watching compute markets, that number matters because AI demand is still pulling capital toward data centers, chips, and cloud contracts. The smaller and riskier units looked rougher. Other Bets revenue fell to $411 million from $450 million, while its operating loss widened to $2.100 billion from $1.226 billion. Alphabet-level activities, which mainly cover shared AI research and development expenses, recorded an operating loss of $5.391 billion, compared with $3.027 billion last year. Hedging moved from a $260 million gain to a $180 million loss. The company’s employee count rose to 194,668, up from 185,719. Sundar said that Gemini Enterprise paid monthly active users grew 40% quarter over quarter. He added that Gemini models now process more than 16 billion tokens per minute through direct customer API use, up 60% from the previous quarter. He also said Waymo passed 500,000 fully autonomous rides a week. If you want a calmer entry point into DeFi crypto without the usual hype, start with this free video.
