Google and Amazon suffer market upswings in sales outlook

SAN FRANCISCO: Internet titans Google and Amazon have come under a cloud of investors after posting disappointing sales updates, with the search leader also on the hushing defense for allegedly up to sexual misconduct.

Two of the world's most valuable companies have seen slides in their stock prices after releasing their quarterly results, the decline that pessimism fueled on the Asian and European stock markets on Friday.

Although both on Thursday reported bumper profits in the last quarter, revenues fell short of Google's expectations and Amazon scared the markets with a so-so to predict the holiday season of any importance to come .

"Given the current market environment, your compensation report must be perfect or your stock will be punished," said Vic Anthony, an analyst at Aegis Capital Corp.

Contributed to Google's bad day was a New York Times report that a top official, Android creator Andy Rubin, received a $ 90 million release package as he faced allegations of misconduct, and that Google had covered other allegations of sexual harassment.

Sundar Pichai Executive Chief Google sent an email to employees stating that 48 people had been terminated for sexual harassment in the past two years, including 13 who were senior and above, but that no one received a packet of exit.

He said that Google was "very serious" to provide a safe working environment and that the report on Rubin and others was "hard to read," but did not directly address the claims.

Sam Singer, spokesman for Rubin, dismissed the charges against him in a statement to AFP, saying Rubin had left Google of himself in 2014 to launch venture capital firm Playground.

The latest report added to a vocal chorus denouncing the macho culture in Silicon Valley dominated MALE, which hit a number of Internet industry executives at other tech giants their roost.

Nerves despite net growth

Google is already studying Facebook for its privacy and data protection policies, but on the commercial side, it continues to increase its revenues.

parent company Alphabet Google said its third-quarter net profit rose 36 percent to $ 9.2 billion, fueled by gains in digital online advertising and delivered on smartphones.

Alphabet is working to diversify, with its own pixel brand of smartphones and tablets, its Google Home smart speakers gaining ground on the market leader, Amazon and services like cloud computing, another area where Amazon is strong.

"Our hardware efforts are gaining momentum," Pichai told analysts at a conference call.

But the income of the alphabet fell short of expectations, rising 21 percent to $ 33.7 billion in the three months ending in September, compared to the same period a year earlier.

"Alphabet is the king of ad revenue, so any weakness makes people nervous," said independent technology analyst Rob Enderle.

The Alphabet shares lost ground after the earnings release and lost 5.04 percent Friday in pre-market trading.

For its part Amazon stock is down 8.66 percent before Friday 's opening, despite seeing its quarterly net profit grow tenfold from a year earlier to $ 2.9 billion.

The Seattle-based company has touted the growing popularity of Amazon Business, a service designed as a source of equipment and supplies of all kinds for businesses.

"And we are not slowing down – Amazon business is rapidly adding customers, including large educational institutions, local governments and more than half of Fortune 100 companies," founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

Rivals at the crown of Amazon

The e-commerce leader's sales in the West reached $ 56.6 billion in the third quarter, up 29% from the same period a year earlier.

It was less than expected and investors were also disappointed with Amazon's revenue and profit forecasts during the peak period leading up to Christmas.

Amazon's bottom line is affected by its significant investment in cloud data centers and voice-based hardware, as well as its decision to raise the starting wage of US workers to $ 15 an hour, then that low wages are criticized.

GlobalData chief executive Neil Saunders Retail said that although Amazon had an enviable number, net sales growth was the weakest in a year, and online competition was picking up brick-and-mortar rivals in the United States as Wal-Mart and Target.

"Make no mistake, Amazon remains a giant in the online market – and we also do not believe it is seriously threatened," Saunders said.

"However, others are getting better at nibbling his dominance."