Google coy on cloud numbers as revenue rises

CEO Sundar Pichai says cloud business is booming, but doesn't 'spoil any surprises' ahead of Google Next event

Google is seeing "great momentum" in its cloud business, according to CEO Sundar Pichai, who resisted going into depth ahead of this week's Google Next conference.

For the three months ending 30 June, Google's parent company Alphabet saw revenue climb 26 per cent year on year to $32.7 per cent.

Google doesn't break out figures for its cloud business - which holds Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and G-Suite - instead including it in "other revenues" with its hardware business and Play app store sales.

This group of businesses saw "substantial growth", according to Alphabet, with revenue up 37 per cent year on year to $4.4bn.

On an earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Pichai declined to delve too deeply in Google's Cloud performance.

"Speaking of our efforts to help businesses succeed in the cloud, our cloud business has great momentum," he said.

"It's a natural extension of our long-time strength in computing, datacentres and machine learning.

"We have developed these over many years and they power our own services in the cloud and are now helping others."

Google Cloud Next takes place in San Francisco this week, with Pichai claiming that over 20,000 SMBs will be in attendance - up from just 2,000 at the same event in 2016.

"I won't spoil any of the surprises, but I do want to call out Google Cloud's momentum," he added. "Success of our vertical strategy and customer-centric approach was illustrated by key wins including Domino's Pizza, SoundCloud and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"I think we are investing for the long run; we are definitely seeing traction. It's been a lot about investing in our go-to-market efforts and as we do it, developing our in-house strength as well as partnering - those things are beginning to pay dividends. Hopefully, you'll hear more details at [this week's] conference."

Like Microsoft, Google does not break out specific numbers for its cloud infrastructure business, but earlier this year said that the unit broke the $1bn-per-quarter mark in 2017.

Aside from the cloud business Google also claimed to be seeing growth in its hardware business, with Chromebook sales up 175 per cent year on year.

Alphabet's share price rose over five per cent in after-hours trading.