It reported revenue of nearly $69.1 billion, up just 6 percent from the same period last year. Google’s ad revenue grew just 2.5% year over year, compared to the 43% growth posted a year ago. YouTube’s advertising business, which competes with TikTok, was particularly hard hit, with revenue down about 2% from the previous quarter.
Google’s net income, meanwhile, came in at $13.9 billion, down more than 26 percent from last year and below analysts’ estimates of $16.6 billion.
Shares of the company fell nearly 6 percent after the report on Tuesday.
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai blamed themselves for the tough economic climate in a statement accompanying the results.
“We are increasing our focus on a clear set of product and business priorities,” Pichai said. “We are focused on both investing responsibly and responding to the economic environment.”
Tech companies, including Google, reported that they began to feel the impact of the decline in online advertising spending in the previous quarter. High inflation, a looming recession and the ongoing war in Ukraine continue to weigh on the industry.
Growth in other areas of Google’s business also appears to be slowing. Google Cloud revenue grew 37% year over year.
“Google had a disappointing quarter as the search giant underperformed our expectations in nearly every business segment, most notably underperforming our core ad search segment,” said Invest.com Senior Analyst Jesse Cohen.
