Google tops expectations with $15 bn quarterly profit

Google parent company Alphabet beat market expectations in the first quarter of 2023 with a net profit of $15 billion, the company said on Tuesday, in a sign that the search engine behemoth is regaining its footing.

Its quarterly revenue came in at nearly $70 billion, a billion better than expected by analysts and in the same three month period that the company said it would lay off 12,000 staff or six per cent of its workforce.

Microsoft on Tuesday said that its cloud computing and artificial intelligence offerings lifted its revenue and profit in the first quarter of 2023.

Microsoft, which has made a huge bet on embracing AI technology from the makers of ChatGPT, reported profit of $18.3 billion on revenue of $52.9 billion in the first three months of this year.

"Across the Microsoft Cloud, we are the platform of choice to help customers get the most value out of their digital spend and innovate for this next generation of AI," said Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella.