(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday, as the search engine giant’s revenue from online advertisements soared. FILE PHOTO: A Google sign is seen during the WAIC (World Artificial Intelligence Conference) in Shanghai, China, September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo Net income rose to $9.19 billion, or $13.06 per Class A and B common share and Class C capital share, from $6.73 billion, or $9.57 per share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped to $33.74 billion from $27.8 billion. Analysts on average had expected revenue of $34.05 billion and earnings of $10.45 per share, according to Refinitiv data. Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Editing by Bernard Orr … [Read more...] about Alphabet’s third-quarter profit beats estimates
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Alphabet sued over failing to disclose Google+ privacy vulnerability
By Roger Fingas Wednesday, October 17, 2018, 06:14 am PT (09:14 am ET) An investor has launched a lawsuit against Google's parent company, Alphabet, arguing that the company deceived fellow investors by failing to reveal a Google+ bug that could have exposed profile information people didn't set to public. The complaint, launched by a lawyer for plaintiff Adam Wicks, charges that Alphabet executives "repeatedly made materially false and misleading statements regarding the security failure affecting users' personal data," particularly through two 10-Q filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in April and July. Those documents insisted that there had been "no material changes" to risk, including security breaches, since the end of December — in reality, the bug was only quietly fixed the following March. The 10-Qs should have indicated that "damage to the company's reputation and operating results and loss of customers from this failure of the company's security … [Read more...] about Alphabet sued over failing to disclose Google+ privacy vulnerability
Alphabet’s Waymo May Offer Free Rides To Promoted Destinations
Oct 10, 12:08 PM EDT Newsletter Signup BusinessTechnologyWorldNationalMedia & CultureOpinionSportsLuxury Technology By Alex Perry 10/10/18 AT 11:34 AM Alphabet, Inc.’s (GOOG) self-driving taxi service Waymo will begin operations in a matter of weeks, but the company may still need to figure out a sustainable source of income. Waymo could potentially do that by imitating fellow Alphabet property Google, with free rides to promoted destinations, CNET reported.Ride-sharing is a lucrative market in cities, but even industry heavyweight Uber still operates at a financial loss. In order to bring in some extra cash, Waymo CEO John Krafcik suggested letting businesses pay Waymo to offer free rides to them. Hypothetically, users could see promoted ride destinations with free or discounted rides similar to the prominent placement of search ads on Google."I think this is a really interesting future business possibility for Waymo,” Krafcik told CNET.Our self-driving … [Read more...] about Alphabet’s Waymo May Offer Free Rides To Promoted Destinations
Alphabet to shut Google+ social site after user data exposed
(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google will shut down the consumer version of its failed social network Google+ and tighten its data sharing policies after announcing on Monday that private profile data of at least 500,000 users may have been exposed to hundreds of external developers. The Google app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration The issue was discovered and patched in March as part of a review of how Google shares data with other applications, Google said in a blog post. No developer exploited the vulnerability or misused data, the review found. Shares of its parent company Alphabet closed down 1 percent at $1155.92 following the latest in a run of privacy issues to hit big U.S. tech companies. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Google opted not to disclose the security issue due to fears of regulatory scrutiny, citing unnamed sources and a memo prepared by Google’s legal … [Read more...] about Alphabet to shut Google+ social site after user data exposed
Alphabet shuts Google+ social site after user data exposed
(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Monday up to 500,000 Google+ user accounts were potentially affected by a bug that may have exposed their data to external developers, and the company is shutting down the social network for consumers. The Google app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Google opted not to disclose the issue partly due to fears of regulatory scrutiny, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing unnamed sources and internal documents. A software glitch in the social site gave outside developers potential access to private Google+ profile data between 2015 and March 2018, when internal investigators discovered and fixed the issue, the report said. Shares of Alphabet Inc were down 2.6 percent at $1138.53. The affected data is limited to static, optional Google+ Profile fields including name, email address, occupation, gender and age, Google said. “We found … [Read more...] about Alphabet shuts Google+ social site after user data exposed