Google parent Alphabet pays dividend for first time, shares rise

Google parent Alphabet joined a handful of rival tech giants in paying dividends, with the company announcing payouts for the first time in its latest quarterly results, driven by plans for greater dominance in search and artificial intelligence.

A $0.20 cash dividend will be paid on June 17 to shareholders of three classes of company stock, A, B and C, of ​​record as of June 10. The search giant also authorized a $70 billion repurchase in new shares. The company is sitting on $108 billion in cash.

“We have had a share buyback program for quite some time and we have continued to develop it over the years. As I said, we think it strengthens our overall capital return program. The capital allocation structure has been talked about for quite some time and it remains the same.” Ruth Porat, Google’s president and chief investment officer, said Fox Business’ Susan Lee. Porat most recently served as chief financial officer and is still searching for his successor.

The stock hit a record high on Friday, pushing the stock up more than 24% for the year.

After revenue hit $80 billion (up 15% from a year ago) and profit rose 61% to $1.89, CEO Sundar Pichai ramped up efforts to drive growth across the business on a commitment to artificial intelligence.

Oracle moves headquarters to new city

“It was a great quarter, driven by strong performance in search, YouTube and cloud. Today, I’d like to share how I’m thinking more broadly about business and opportunity. Of course, it focuses on AI and search.” Pichai, Google CEO, told investors in an earnings call.

Sundar, who recently made headlines for firing a group of workers who held anti-Israel protests that led to protests at the office for other reasons, said in a detailed memo that such behavior would not be tolerated in the workplace.

Google fired employees who protested in the office

Mark Zuckerberg Metadata Facebook, also involved in the AI ​​race, introduced a 0.50-cent dividend earlier this year, which was paid on March 26. Facebook’s parent company reported the results on Wednesday, and Zuckerberg warned that the huge spending on artificial intelligence may take some time to pay off.

“As we expand capital spending and energy spending for AI, we will continue to focus on making other parts of the company more efficient, but in reality, even as we shift many of our existing resources to AI, we will still increase investment in areas. Where we move from is that we have to make meaningful investments before we get significant revenue in some of the products,” he said listening to analysts and investor calls.

The stock price fell 10.56%, which was the worst trading day since October 27, 2022. The stock is still up more than 24% this year.

Other tech giants that pay dividends include Apple and Microsoft. Amazon is still holding its ground.

Click here to access Fox Business anytime, anywhere