Shares of Google parent Alphabet soared to all-time highs Monday evening, after the company posted a surge in ad revenue that partially made up for a record-breaking $5 billion fine from the EU.
MarketWatch tech reporter Max Cherney said that even recent backlash over ad placement on the site won't ultimately deter customers.
"Google has to make sure their advertising clients are happy with the placement of their ads," he told Cheddar after the results. "Even though Google has struggled with the issue, and YouTube specifically...at the end of the day Google offers very valuable advertising real estate and most, if not all, of their customers end up going back."
Advertising revenue for the quarter rose nearly 25 percent to $28.1 billion in the second quarter. That increase came despite a [CNN report in April](https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/19/technology/youtube-ads-extreme-content-investigation/index.html) that found ads for 300 companies, from Adidas to Hershey to Netflix, appeared next to questionable YouTube content. The company had been plagued by similar scandals throughout last year.
Still, research firm eMarketer estimates Google will control 31 percent of the digital ad market this year.
On the company's conference call, CFO Ruth Porat said, "One of the biggest opportunities for investment continues to be our ads business, where we're continuing to invest meaningfully."
While the EU fine, announced last week as a penalty for abusing the market dominance of its Android operating system, did eat into profit, on an adjusted basis the company posted earnings of $11.75 a share, ahead of analyst estimates for $9.59.
Another good signーAlphabet also saw slowing growth in its so-called traffic acquisition costs, or how much the company pays to drive views to its sites.
Overall revenue came in at $32.7 billion for the quarter. Sales from its "Other Bets", which include Google's cloud business and hardware division, rose nearly 50 percent to $145 million.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/alphabet-hits-all-time-high-after-reporting-q2-earnings).
Stepping up a feud with Washington over technology and security, China's government on Sunday told users of computer equipment deemed sensitive to stop buying products from the biggest U.S. memory chipmaker, Micron Technology Inc.
Stocks are moving tentatively Monday, as Wall Street waits to see whether a pivotal meeting in the afternoon will help the U.S. government avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt.
Scores of Boston University students turned their backs on the head of one of Hollywood's biggest studios, and some shouted “pay your writers,” as he gave the school's commencement address Sunday in a stadium where protesters supporting the Hollywood writers' strike picketed outside.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking that a federal judge be disqualified from the First Amendment lawsuit filed by Disney against the Florida governor and his appointees, claiming the jurist's prior statements in other cases have raised questions about his impartiality on the state's efforts to take over Disney World's governing body.
Ford CEO Jim Farley says the company will stop competing in over-served market segments and instead will place big bets on connected vehicles and digital services. The days of Ford being all things to all people are over, Farley said at the company's capital markets day event Monday.
The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring users personal information across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.
Joanne Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mycocycle Inc., joined Cheddar News to discuss how her company uses mushrooms to decarbonize construction waste. "Mycocycle was started to address the waste mismanagement issue we have," she said. "Globally, we've got overflowing landfills that are creating human and environmental health issues."
The World Economic Forum recently released its future of jobs report and broke down what abilities employers are looking for. Julia Pollak, chief labor economist at ZipRecruiter, joined Cheddar News to discuss what top, in-demand job skills are needed in the rapidly-changing economy.
