Alphabet shares soar despite hit to profit from Google's $7b fine

Alphabet subsidiary Google was given a record fine by EU authorities. Photo/123RF.

Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet jumped Monday in after-market trading after the company reported its second-quarter earnings, despite a drop in profit from a record US$5 billion (NZ$7 billion) fine from the European Union.

Alphabet reported US$3.2 billion in profit, compared with the analyst estimate of US$6.72 billion. Revenue was US$32.7 billion in revenue, an increase of 26 per cent over the same period last year.

Google said little about the fine, which regulators said was for anticompetitive behaviour with its Android mobile operating system, in its earnings release. Alphabet has already said it will appeal the order.

Google has more than 95 per cent of share of search in Europe, according to the European Commission's complaint against the company. Android has around 80 per cent of the world's market share of smartphones, thanks to Google's model of letting companies use it for free but packaging its own services in the heart of the system.

Shares of Google were up significantly after hours, rising five per cent immediately after the numbers were released. The company's stock took a slight hit after news of the fine broke last week, but was trading at US$1,211 per share at market close, up 7 per cent over the past month.

Last year, Google also took a hit to its second-quarter earnings due to a fine - of US$2.7 billion - from the European Union for favouring its own shopping search products.

On Thursday, President Trump said in a tweet that the European Union has "taken advantage" of US companies such as Google, saying that the fine was the latest evidence of unfair trade practices between Europe and the US.

The relationship between Google's search power and its command of the smartphone and advertising market has been examined by U.S. regulators before. The Federal Trade Commission investigated Google in 2013, but opted not to take action. Since the E.U. fine, some lawmakers such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal have called for American regulators to pursue new action.

FTC chairman Joseph Simons, who was appointed by Trump to lead the independent agency this year, said in a hearing Wednesday that US regulators will read what the EU is saying "very closely."