San Francisco — On Thursday, Google parent Alphabet reported strong gains in quarterly results, beating most market forecasts, despite rising costs for its "moonshot" efforts. Alphabet reported a 29% jump in quarterly profit to $5.4bn, while revenue jumped 22% compared with a year ago to $24.75bn. "Our excellent results represent a terrific start to 2017," chief financial officer Ruth Porat said. "We clearly continue to benefit from our ongoing investments in product innovation and have great momentum in our new businesses across Alphabet." The Google segment delivered the overwhelming majority of revenues for the company — or $24.5bn. The so-called "other bets", which include smart home devices, self-driving cars and life sciences, took in $244m in revenue but delivered an operating loss of $855m, Alphabet said. The stronger-than-expected results helped lift Alphabet shares more than 4% in after-hours trade on Wall Street.
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