Google parent Alphabet shares tank over 6% as cloud revenue takes a hit from rivals

Alphabet missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Tuesday, in a sign the Google parent was taking a hit from increased competition in the digital advertising market and a slowdown in its cloud computing business.The tech giant’s shares were down more than 6% in extended trading.Alphabet has gained about 9% so far this year.Google’s Cloud business posted a 30% rise in revenue to $11.96 billion in the fourth quarter, slowing down from the 35% increase in the September quarter.

Analysts were expecting a rise of 32.3% to $12.16 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.The soft cloud numbers come even as Google has built out AI features within its cloud computing platform.Larger cloud rival Microsoft also reported weaker-than-expected growth in its Azure cloud platform last week.Revenue rose 12% to $96.47 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of $96.56 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.The company reported a profit of $2.15 per share, beating estimates of $2.13 per share....