Alphebet reports fast growth of revenue, profit

Google's parent Alphabet on Thursday released its first-quarter financial results, reporting that both revenue and net income grew fast, as non-Google businesses continued to lose money.

Alphabet saw a revenue of 20.3 billion U.S. dollars for the first three months of the year, 17 percent up over the same period last year. Its net income increased 20 percent to 4.2 billion dollars.

"Our Q1 results represent a tremendous start to the year," said Alphabet's Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat in a release.

The majority of earnings were generated by Google's core businesses, web search and advertising. Google advertising revenue grew 16 percent to 18 billion dollars.

As for the company's Other Bets business, operating loss from Other Bets rose to 802 million dollars from 633 million U.S. dollars a year earlier.

Other Bets, including self-driving cars and fiber internet services, are what Alphabet is developing for the next big thing in technology.

"We're thoughtfully pursuing big bets and building exciting new technologies in Google and our Other Bets that position us well for long term growth," said Porat.

Shares of Alphabet fell about 46 dollars, or 6 percent, in after-hour trading, reflecting that the company's first-quarter results fell short of analysts' expectations. Endi