Alphabet reported revenue of $80.5 billion for Q1, a 15 percent increase fueled largely by online advertising from Google Search and YouTube. The figure topped analyst estimates of $78.8 billion. Profit soared, rising 57 percent to more than $23.6 billion, wildly overperforming the forecast of $18.9 billion. The strong performance resulted in Alphabet announcing its first ever shareholder dividend, at 20 cents per share, which pays out on June 17. Alphabet’s board approved a $70 billion stock repurchase program, and the news-filled earnings event drove Alphabet shares up 13 percent in after-hours trading. Continue reading Alphabet Profit Up 57 Percent, Prompting First-Ever Dividend

U.S. recorded music revenue grew 8 percent in 2023, to an estimated record high of $17.1 billion at retail. It was the eighth consecutive year of growth, according to the RIAA, which says streaming continued to be the biggest driver, notching new heights of paid subscriptions, robust growth in ad-supported listening, and healthy increased contributions from new platforms. Streaming accounted for 84 percent of retail revenue, at $14.4 billion including from 96.8 million paid subscriptions. On the supply-side, wholesale revenue grew 7 percent to $11 billion, also a record. Continue reading Streaming Drives U.S. Recorded Music to Record $17 Billion

Microsoft profits were up 33 percent year-over-year to $21.9 billion in the quarter ending December 31, its fiscal Q2 for 2024. The quarterly growth was the company’s strongest in more than two years. Executives credited it to excitement about artificial intelligence services and the resulting demand for cloud services including Microsoft Azure. Earlier this month, Microsoft achieved a $2.89 trillion market valuation, overtaking Apple as the world’s most valuable public company, and this week it surged past $3 trillion. Revenue was $62 billion for the quarter, up 18 percent. Continue reading Microsoft Q2 Profits Surge 33 Percent Driven by AI and Cloud

SiriusXM is shuttering its Stitcher podcasting app and merging podcast delivery into its flagship SiriusXM subscription offerings. As of August 29, “the Stitcher app and web listening experience will be disabled,” the company told users this week. Stitcher offered listeners the choice of free-to-listen ad-supported programs or a la carte show subscriptions. It also had the $4.95 per month ($34.99 per year) Stitcher Premium, providing a wide variety of ad-free podcasts. “Subscribers can listen to podcasts within the SiriusXM app and will see an all-new listening experience later this year,” the company said. Continue reading SiriusXM to Close Its Stitcher Podcast App and Site in August

Following nine months of difficult repositioning that included layoffs and consolidation as Meta Platforms segued to its “year of efficiency,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently shared his plans for the company’s future with employees at an all-hands meeting. In a discussion that has been reported as an effort to help bolster staff morale during this challenging period, Zuckerberg explained his strategy regarding job cuts, offered insight on the tech giant’s approach to artificial intelligence, and took a swipe at Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset while talking about his goals for VR and the metaverse. Continue reading Zuckerberg Shares Meta Strategy with Staff After Rocky Year

Amazon is giving Alexa an AI update, with a “more generalized and capable” large language model in development to power the device, CEO Andy Jassy told investors on the company’s Q1 earnings call. While Jassy addressed updates to the company’s AI and machine learning tech that is now facing increased competition, it was actually advertising that gave the company bragging rights this quarter. Amazon’s ad products had 21 percent revenue growth year-over-year, totaling $9.5 billion. As many digital companies struggle to maintain ad momentum in a restrained market, the results are impressive. Continue reading Amazon Has Ad Surge, Looks to Better LLM to Power Alexa

After three straight quarters of declining revenue, Meta Platforms posted a 3 percent year-over-year gain in Q1, for a total of $28.6 billion. Earnings fell by 24 percent, to $5.7 billion, due in part to restructuring charges. But the bad news was offset by strong user growth, including 37 million daily active users for Facebook, up 4 percent from Q1 2022. The results beat Wall Street expectations and exceeded Meta’s own guidance. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it “a good quarter,” adding that “our AI work is driving good results across our apps and business.” Continue reading Meta Back on Growth Curve Following Three Tough Quarters

BuzzFeed is closing its Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News operation in a consolidation aimed at improving the company’s balance sheet. “We are reducing our workforce by approximately 15 percent today across our business, content, tech and admin teams, and beginning the process of closing BuzzFeed News,” BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti explained in a memo to staff on Thursday. The layoffs will affect about 180 employees. The company will continue operating the meme-driven BuzzFeed.com while HuffPost, acquired in 2020 from Verizon, will carry the mantle for news reporting. Continue reading BuzzFeed News Closing as the Industry Continues to Struggle

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg is getting a lot of love from Wall Street, which saw the company’s stock add $100 billion in value in Q1, largely on the basis of announcing layoffs. Now the 38-year-old is getting attention for a 2,200-word staff memo that has garnered high marks for candor even as he eliminates another 1o,000 jobs. “Last year was a humbling wake-up call,” Zuckerberg wrote. “The world economy changed, competitive pressures grew, and our growth slowed considerably.” Streamlining while working more strategically is the foundation of what Zuckerberg has coined a “year of efficiency.” Continue reading Zuckerberg Memo Outlines Management Based on Efficiency

Twitter’s December adjusted earnings and revenue fell about 40 percent, year over year, according to reporting in The Wall Street Journal. CEO Elon Musk, who completed his acquisition of the social platform in October, has instituted deep cuts as he tries to reinvent the company hobbled with an estimated $1 billion in interest per annum on the $13 billion he borrowed to helped pay for the company. The troubles are due in part to bad timing, as the ad market on which Twitter and other socials depend took an overall downturn. Musk, nonetheless, remains optimistic the company will at least break even in 2023. Continue reading Twitter Revenue and Adjusted Earnings Are Down 40 Percent

Weeks after CNET drew media attention for quietly publishing stories generated by artificial intelligence, the outlet announced layoffs of several longtime employees yesterday, representing about 10 percent of the public masthead. The move was reportedly made by Red Ventures, the private equity-backed media firm that acquired the tech news outlet three years ago. CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo will step down and transition to SVP of AI content strategy. The new editor-in-chief will be Adam Auriemma, who previously held the same position at NextAdvisor, also owned by Red Ventures. Continue reading Layoffs Are Under Way at CNET, Editor-in-Chief Steps Down

Pinterest grew Q4 year-over-year revenue by 4 percent, to $877 million, while full year sales jumped 9 percent in 2022 totaling $2.8 billion. The company said that global monthly active users also grew by 4 percent in the three month period ending December 31, to a total of 450 million. CEO Bill Ready emphasized on the earnings call the intent to eventually “make every pin shoppable.” Similar to how it is monetizing still images Pinterest is focusing on making videos “more actionable” by applying what it calls “our computer vision technology.” Continue reading Pinterest Grows Its Active Users, Focuses on Video Shopping

Apple’s three-year streak of record-setting sales and profit came to an end with the company’s fiscal first quarter for 2023. The three-month period ending December 31, 2022 produced revenue of $117.2 billion, down 5 percent year-over-year. Apple said the results capped an earnings season “in which the world’s biggest technology companies mostly struggled to shake off a postpandemic hangover.” It was the Cupertino-based company’s first quarterly revenue decline in almost four years, attributable largely to supply chain disruptions in China causing a holiday sales season shortage of the high-end iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. Continue reading Apple Hardware Sales Decline, Services Remain Bright Spot

Facing backlash against his executive leadership, Twitter’s new owner and CEO, billionaire Elon Musk, conducted an informal 12-hour poll over the weekend asking users of the popular social media platform whether he should keep his new position. “Should I step down as head of Twitter?” the controversial executive asked. “I will abide by the results of this poll.” After more than 17.5 million responses, the results indicate that a majority of users believe Musk should step down from his post (57.5 percent voted in the affirmative). As of press time, it remains unclear what action Musk may take in light of the poll results. Continue reading Twitter Users Vote in Favor of Musk Stepping Down as CEO

Meta Platforms has shuttered its Connectivity division, which focused on areas including subsea cabling. The group’s functions will be divided among two other company units, Infrastructure and Central Products. Launched in 2013 as Facebook Connectivity, the business group developed connectivity technologies, concentrating on innovations like solar-powered drones, low-Earth orbit satellites and fiber-laying robots to expand the footprint of the company’s social platforms and other services. In 2021, it is estimated that more than 300 million people were able to access faster Internet services as a result of Meta Connectivity initiatives. Continue reading Meta Closes Its Connectivity Unit, Reassigns Responsibilities