Kamis, 30 Juli 2020

Amazon, Facebook and Apple thriving in lockdown - BBC News

The coronavirus crisis might be causing widespread economic upheaval around the world, but the world's biggest tech firms are thriving.

Amazon sales soared 40% in the three months ending June, while Apple saw a surge in purchases of its iPhones and other hardware.

At Facebook, the number of people on its platforms, which include WhatsApp and Instagram, jumped by 15%.

The gains come as the firms face scrutiny over their size and power.

At a hearing in Washington on Wednesday, lawmakers grilled the companies about whether they were abusing their dominance to quash rivals, noting the sharp contrast between their fortunes and many other firms.

Their positions are likely to become even stronger, as the pandemic pushes even more activity online, said Congressman David Cicilline, the Democrat who leads the committee.

"Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these corporations already stood out as titans in our economy," he said.

"In the wake of COVID-19, however, they are likely to emerge stronger and more powerful than ever before."

The gains weren't a surprise to analysts - though just how well many of the firms did was.

In after-hours trade, shares in Apple and Facebook gained more than 5%, while Amazon was up almost 5%.

"This is an exceptional quarter on all fronts under extreme circumstances," Moody's vice president Charlie O'Shea said of Amazon's blockbuster rise.

What were the Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google results?

The e-commerce firm's sales surged 40% in the three months ended in June, hitting $88.9bn (£67.9bn) - its strongest year-on-year growth in years.

Despite heavy spending on protective gear and other measures due to the virus, the firm's quarterly profits doubled to $5.2bn, up from $2.6bn a year ago.

Meanwhile, Apple said quarterly revenues jumped 11% year-on-year to $59.7bn, as the shift to remote work and school helped drive demand for new devices, such as Macs and iPads, both of which saw double-digit gains. Profits hit $11.25bn, up from $10bn in the same period a year ago.

"The last few months have underlined the importance of users (and households alike) to own better quality devices, connections and services, said Paolo Pescatore, tech analyst at PP Foresight. "Apple smashed it."

At Facebook, revenues increased 11% - slower than other quarters - but were still ahead of analysts' expectations, as advertising revenues held up better than expected. The firm's profits hit almost $5.2bn for the quarter.

The resilience was helped by the spike in users, which makes the firm attractive to advertisers, said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The firm remains vulnerable to social and political pressure, she said, which could just as quickly push users away again, Ms Lund-Yates warned. But, she added, "This isn't the first time Facebook's navigated regulatory or social speedbumps, and it has deep pockets to throw at fixing problems."

Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube, was the weakest of the four.

The search giant said revenues were $38.3bn, down 2% from a year ago, as businesses cut back on ad spending. Profits dropped about 30% year-on-year to roughly $7bn.

But even those dips failed to faze analysts, who had low expectations.

"We expected April to be the bottom of the digital ad market, with a return to growth in May and June, and these results suggest that acceleration was stronger than expected," eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin said.

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2020-07-30 21:07:25Z
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