Google's parent Alphabet reports better-than-expected quarterly profits

Google's parent company Alphabet has beat quarterly earnings expectations, raking in $18.9 billion in profit as its online ad engine and cloud services thrived.

Alphabet's profits jumped from $11.2 billion in a 69 percent increase year-on-year, increasing 41 percent in the third quarter of 2021, according to its financial results released on Tuesday.

The company's revenue rose to $65.1 billion in the July-September period from nearly $46.2 billion in the same period last year.

Google is the world's dominant search engine, owns the biggest mobile operating system in Android and runs the behemoth video site YouTube. 

"This quarter's results show how our (artificial intelligence) investments are enabling us to build more helpful products for people and our partners," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google.

 "As the digital transformation and shift to hybrid work continue, our Cloud services are helping organizations collaborate," he added.

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From July to September, its video service YouTube generated $7.2 billion of revenue from advertising, against $5 billion in the same period last year, according to Alphabet. 

Its remote-computing business Google Cloud saw nearly $5 billion in revenue, up 45 percent over the previous year.

Total revenue from Google advertising brought in $53.1 billion.

Alphabet's stock price was up 0.05 percent in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq.

The surge in Alphabet's earnings comes as the tech giant faces increased scrutiny from regulators regarding its power and shifting of the lockdown lifestyles that have so benefited Big Tech.