Inside Big Tech's March quarter earnings: Here's all you need to know
Big Tech earnings released on Wednesday pointed to sustained momentum in cloud and AI, with Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon posting strong growth, while Meta Platforms delivered solid results but faced pressure in after-hours trading.
Here’s the lowdown:
Alphabet (Q1 FY26):
For the Google-parent, AI emerged as a decisive growth engine this quarter.
How the businesses stacked up:
Search: A robust quarter, with AI-driven features boosting engagement and query volumes reaching record levels, contributing to 19% revenue growth.
Google advertising revenue: $77.25 billion, a 15.5% increase compared with the same period last year.
YouTube advertising: $9.88 billion, short of Wall Street expectations. Chief business officer Philipp Schindler said subscription growth is currently outpacing ad revenues on the platform.
Alphabet’s other bets: Its self-driving unit Waymo generated $411 million, down from $450 million a year earlier. During the quarter, Waymo exceeded 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week.
“Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business: Search queries are at an all-time high with AI continuing to drive usage. Google Cloud revenue grew 63%, Gemini models have incredible momentum, and it was our strongest quarter ever for consumer AI subs, driven by Gemini app,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.
Alphabet shares jumped more than 7% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
Amazon (Q1 FY26)
Amazon topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly cloud revenue growth driven by strong enterprise spending on its cloud computing services.
How its businesses did
Amazon’s cloud division (AWS) revenue: $37.59 billion, up 28% YoY, its fastest growth in more than three years.
Advertising revenue: Jumped 24% YoY to $17.24 billion.
Online stores: Grew 12% to $64.3 billion and still accounts for the largest share of Amazon’s total sales.
Announcing the earnings, CEO Andy Jassy said, “We’re in the middle of some of the biggest inflections of our lifetime… and I’m very optimistic about what’s ahead for our customers and Amazon.”
Amazon shares ended at $263.04, up 1.29% in the latest session.
Meta (Q1 FY26)
Meta failed to meet expectations. Its shares crashed 7% in the after-hours trading as the Instagram-parent boosted full-year capital expenditure to $145 billion, partly driven by rising component prices.
"We had a milestone quarter with strong momentum across our apps and the release of our first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs," said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, on the earnings call. "We're on track to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people."
The company gave a a Q2 2026 revenue guidance of of $58–61 billion.
Microsoft (Q3 FY26)
Microsoft’s results exceeded expectations. and the company said its annual capital expenditure would total $190 billion, driven by rising memory costs.
How the businesses fared
Microsoft Cloud revenue: $54.5 billion, up 29%, at
LinkedIn: Increased 12%.
Personal Computing:Microsoft’s More Personal Computing unit, which includes the Windows operating system, Xbox, Surface devices, and Bing search advertising, contributed $13.19 billion in revenues, down 1%.
Xbox revenues: The gaming unit’s content and services revenue dipped 5%.
Search advertising: Increased 12%, excluding traffic acquisition costs.
As of Wednesday’s close, Microsoft stock was down 12% so far in 2026 following its worst quarterly performance since 2008.
Here’s the lowdown:
Alphabet (Q1 FY26):
For the Google-parent, AI emerged as a decisive growth engine this quarter.
- Revenue: $109.9 billion, up 22% year-on-year, above LSEG estimates of $107.2 billion
- Net income: $62.57 billion, or $5.11 per share (vs $34.54 billion, $2.81 per share)
- Google Cloud: Revenue rose 63%, surpassing $20 billion for the first time; operating income tripled to $6.6 billion
- Capital expenditure: $35.7 billion
How the businesses stacked up:
Search: A robust quarter, with AI-driven features boosting engagement and query volumes reaching record levels, contributing to 19% revenue growth.
Google advertising revenue: $77.25 billion, a 15.5% increase compared with the same period last year.
YouTube advertising: $9.88 billion, short of Wall Street expectations. Chief business officer Philipp Schindler said subscription growth is currently outpacing ad revenues on the platform.
Alphabet’s other bets: Its self-driving unit Waymo generated $411 million, down from $450 million a year earlier. During the quarter, Waymo exceeded 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week.
“Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business: Search queries are at an all-time high with AI continuing to drive usage. Google Cloud revenue grew 63%, Gemini models have incredible momentum, and it was our strongest quarter ever for consumer AI subs, driven by Gemini app,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.
Alphabet shares jumped more than 7% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
Amazon (Q1 FY26)
Amazon topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly cloud revenue growth driven by strong enterprise spending on its cloud computing services.
- Revenue: $181.52 billion compared to $177.30 billion a year ago.
- Net sales: $181.5 billion vs $155.7 billion, up 17% year-on-year ( YoY).
- Earnings per share: $2.78
How its businesses did
Amazon’s cloud division (AWS) revenue: $37.59 billion, up 28% YoY, its fastest growth in more than three years.
Advertising revenue: Jumped 24% YoY to $17.24 billion.
Online stores: Grew 12% to $64.3 billion and still accounts for the largest share of Amazon’s total sales.
Announcing the earnings, CEO Andy Jassy said, “We’re in the middle of some of the biggest inflections of our lifetime… and I’m very optimistic about what’s ahead for our customers and Amazon.”
Amazon shares ended at $263.04, up 1.29% in the latest session.
Meta (Q1 FY26)
Meta failed to meet expectations. Its shares crashed 7% in the after-hours trading as the Instagram-parent boosted full-year capital expenditure to $145 billion, partly driven by rising component prices.
- Revenue: Over $56 billion, up 33% YoY.
- Net income: $26.8 billion (vs. $16.6 billion).
- Expenses: $33.44 billion, up 35%.
- Earnings per share: $7.31 adjusted.
- Daily active people (DAP): 3.56 billion, up 4% YoY.
- Ad impressions: Up 19% YoY.
"We had a milestone quarter with strong momentum across our apps and the release of our first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs," said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, on the earnings call. "We're on track to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people."
The company gave a a Q2 2026 revenue guidance of of $58–61 billion.
Microsoft (Q3 FY26)
Microsoft’s results exceeded expectations. and the company said its annual capital expenditure would total $190 billion, driven by rising memory costs.
- Revenue: $82.9 billion, up 18% YoY.
- Operating income: $38.4 billion, up 20% YoY.
- Net income: $31.8 billion, up 23% YoY.
- Earnings per share: $4.27, up 23%.
- Annualised revenue from AI: $37 billion, up 123% YoY.
How the businesses fared
Microsoft Cloud revenue: $54.5 billion, up 29%, at
LinkedIn: Increased 12%.
Personal Computing:
Xbox revenues: The gaming unit’s content and services revenue dipped 5%.
Search advertising: Increased 12%, excluding traffic acquisition costs.
As of Wednesday’s close, Microsoft stock was down 12% so far in 2026 following its worst quarterly performance since 2008.
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