The daily business briefing: April 26, 2023

Alphabet and Microsoft report better-than-expected revenue, First Republic shares plunge, and more

A First Republican bank building
(Image credit: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

1. Alphabet reports second straight quarter of falling ad revenue

Google-parent Alphabet on Tuesday reported a rare second consecutive decline in quarterly advertising revenue, although the drop was smaller than Wall Street had expected. Alphabet said it brought in $54.5 billion in first-quarter ad revenue, down less than 1 percent from the same period a year ago but better than the 3.6 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2022. It was only the third time Google has seen ad sales fall since 2004. Microsoft also reported earnings on Tuesday. The software giant said its revenue rose a better-than-expected 7 percent from a year earlier, falling short of its typical double-digit growth for a second straight quarter. Both tech powerhouses defied gloomy expectations as recession fears linger, and their shares advanced in after-hours trading.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.