Google, Apple, and Microsoft post record profits as big tech blowout continues

Tech giants
Google, Apple, and Microsoft have all reported record quarterly sales and
profits on Tuesday as the firms continue to benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic
that has forced the world to go digital.

Apple posted
a profit of $21.7 billion for the quarter
that ended in June. This is the company’s best fiscal quarter in its 45-year
history that got a boost by strong sales of the iPhone 12 and growth in its
services business, the Guardian reported.

 Google’s parent company Alphabet on the other hand reported revenue of
$61.8 billion, a 62% increase on the same period a year earlier. The company’s
profit stood at over $18.5 billion, more than twice its profits for the same
period last year. Its revenue from advertising saw a 69% rise from last year.

Microsoft
reported revenues of over $46 billion for the quarter – a rise of 21% compared
to the same quarter last year.

These
reports come a day after Tesla posted a record profit on Monday. Facebook will
come out with its report on Wednesday while Amazon will post it on Thursday in
what can be called a busy week for earning results.

Google,
Microsoft and Apple are now worth almost 33% of the entire fortune 500 list of companies
in the United States with their shares skyrocketing during the ongoing pandemic
due to the world adopting a digital lifestyle.

The tech
billionaires hold a collective wealth of $2.5 trillion, up 80% on $1.4 trillion
before the pandemic started. Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos leads the list of the
world’s richest people with an estimated $212 billion in net worth. He is
closely followed by Tesla co-founder Elon Musk with a net worth of $180 billion,
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with $151 billion, and Facebook’s Mark
Zuckerberg with about $138 billion.