Alphabet shrugs off EU fine to bring in $3.2 billion Q2 profits

Google’s parent company Alphabet recorded profits of $3.2 billion in Q2 2018, it has announced, despite the $5 billion fine it received from the EU. During the three month period, Alphabet recorded total revenues of $32.7 billion. Company profits without the fine taken into account would have stood at $8.3 billion.

Both revenues and pre-fine profits were significantly higher than in Q2 2017. Coincidently, during that period Google was hit with a slightly smaller $2.74 billion EU fine.

The EU handed out its latest $5 billion fine on July 18. Google is accused of using Android to solidify its position as the dominant online search engine by requiring OEM’s to install Google apps on devices that use the Play Store. Google is set to appeal the decision, and has already argued that apps are easy to remove and that OEMs are free to preload their own alternatives alongside Google’s offerings.

Google’s biggest earner during the quarter was advertising which brought in total revenues of $28.1 billion. On top of this, $4.4 billion came from its “other revenues” section which includes the Play Store and sales of consumer devices such as Pixel phones, Google Home speakers, and Chromecasts.

The final revenue stream was its “Other Bets” category which includes businesses like Google Fiber and the Waymo self-driving car. This section earned $145 million. Despite this being a significant increase compared to the same period last year, this section recorded a $732 million dollar loss.

Next up: Google does it best, and EU ruling won’t change that