Google Q1 - Increasing Share Buybacks

There are a lot of things one can say about Google, the company. Here's one: they had results out recently and it's my job to tell you about the numbers. Here's another: Google is a money-making, near-monopoly that is the gateway to the Internet, and you're nuts if you don't own their shares.

Let me keep going. Google is a really big business, now making about $70 billion in revenue every quarter. That's $40 billion from selling adverts around its search results, another $7 billion from ads on YouTube, $8 billion from ads served on other websites, and about $15 billion from Google Cloud and other services.

As Goldman Sachs put it in a recent note: "Google has the leading collection of artificial intelligence and machine learning-driven businesses in our coverage universe and we view the company as uniquely positioned to capitalise on the blurring of the lines between advertising, commerce and media consumption business models in the years ahead."

Google shares are down 16% year-to-date. The company has a lot of cash. So, the board authorised a fresh $70 billion share buyback plan, after spending $52 billion on buying back shares in 2021. You might also want to buy some more?