Big tech companies increase their profits despite the pandemic

Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple logos DENIS CHARLET / AFP

Big technology seems to have isolated itself - at least economically - from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic that have hit and continue to hit the entire world.

However, the main firms in this sector, both Google, Apple, Amazon or Microsoft have declared benefits in 2020 based on the presentation of the results that have been released this Thursday until the month of September.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, earned 5.8% more in the first nine months of the year than in the same period of the previous year, to 25,042 million dollars (about 21,400 million euros), thanks to an increase of its revenues of almost 10 billion, the company reported Thursday.

In the third quarter, Alphabet had a net profit of 11,247 million dollars (9,600 million euros), an improvement of 60% compared to the same period of the previous year, which was 16.40 dollars per share, higher than expected by analysts.

The multinational's revenue increased by 14% to 46,173 million dollars (3,500 million euros) between July and September compared to the same period in 2019. Operating profit was 11,213 million dollars (9,600 million euros), a improvement of 24%, which highlights the good performance of the multinational and leader in digital advertisements in full setbacks due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Facebook, for its part, announced profits between January and September of 17,927 million dollars (15,357 million euros), 61% more than the 11,136 million (9,539 in euros) obtained in the same period last year, thanks to the increase of online advertising during the months of the pandemic.

The company directed by Mark Zuckerberg had a turnover in the first nine months of its fiscal year 2020 a total of 57,893 million dollars (49,600 million euros), mostly from the advertising business on the social network and Instagram (owned by it). ), which is the company's main source of income.

Active users of the largest social network in the world, both daily and monthly (that is, they connect at least once a day or once a month, respectively) grew by 12% year-on-year in both cases, ranking first in the 1,820 million today worldwide and the second at 2,740 million.

Another of the companies that has raised the most despite the pandemic is Apple, which announced profits of 57,411 million dollars (49,200 million euros) at the end of its fiscal year 2020, which represents an increase of 4% compared to 2019 earnings. The firm headed by Tim Cook had a turnover of 274,515 million dollars (235,000 million euros) in the past twelve months, up from 260,174 million (223,000 in euros) in September last year.

Amazon is experiencing a golden moment

Its main competitor, Microsoft, announced last Tuesday that between July and September it obtained net profits of 13,893 million dollars (11,900 million euros), 30% more than in the same period of the previous year, boosted by its computing platform on the cloud.

The Redmond (Washington state) company billed during the past three months ―the first of its fiscal year 2021―, 37,154 million dollars (31,800 million euros), above the 33,055 million (28,310 in euros) reported in October 2019. Microsoft shareholders, for their part, pocketed 1.84 dollars per share, compared to 1.40 in the same period last year.

The growth of online purchases as a result of mobility restrictions that has occurred in recent months has meant that Amazon, a leading company in this service, has also seen its results improved.

Amazon achieved in the first nine months of 2020 a net profit of 14,109 million dollars (12,083 million euros), an increase of 69% compared to the same period of the previous year, in which it scored 8,320 million (7,125 in euros), and a rise that was mainly supported in the exceptional context of the pandemic.

Amazon's sales through September stood at 260,509 million dollars (223,000 million euros), 35% more compared to the 193,086 million (166,000 in euros) registered in the first nine months of 2019. The company based in Seattle (Washington state) is experiencing one of the best years in its history in 2020 thanks to the unprecedented increase in online purchases due to the coronavirus pandemic.