Wall Street Journal: Google Profits Surge as Demand for Advertisements Grows

Google parent Alphabet Inc. said quarterly profit soared 24%, the second internet giant in two days to report blockbuster earnings driven by consumers’ rapid shift to mobile devices.

Alphabet said growth continued as companies bought more ads on its search engine and other products, while users increasingly clicked on those ads. Revenue, fueled by Google’s advertising business, rose 21% to $21.5 billion in the second quarter from a year ago, beating analysts’ average estimate of $20.76 billion.

The rise of smartphones has put internet-connected computers in the pockets of more than a billion people world-wide, leading to a surge in internet use—and a major boost to the bottom lines of tech giants such as Google and Facebook Inc. As consumers use the companies’ wildly popular free services more, Google and Facebook can sell more ads to companies trying to reach those users.

“The strength of the quarter is about mobile,” Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Thursday. “Our investment in mobile now underlines everything that we do today, from search and YouTube to Android and advertising.”

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