Underwhelming festive season advertising sales left Alphabet investors disappointed as shares at the Google and YouTube owner dropped 5.5% to $144.57 (£114.02) in late Wall Street trading.

Advertising revenue came in at $65.5b (£51.66b), below forecasts of $66b (£52.05b).

But overall revenue was narrowly ahead of predictions at $86.31b (£68.07b), against forecasts of $85.36b (£67.32b).

The growth follows Google's chief executive announcing more job cut in 2024 to "invest in big priorities".

A memo sent to staff by Sundar Pichai said: "We have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities.

"The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices."

Alphabet has placed increased weight on artificial intelligence (AI) following the popularity of ChatGPT, with the word "AI" mentioned more than 70 times during Tuesday's earnings call.

FTSE100

The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was up xx-points at xx shortly after opening this morning.

Brent crude oil futures was down xx% today, trading at $xx a barrel.

Companies reporting today

  • Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust - Full Year Results
  • GSK - Q4 Results
  • Novo Nordisk - Full Year Results

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