Its sales will reach $307 billion in 2023. Growth is slowing compared with the previous year - 10% in constant dollars, versus 14% in 2022 - but remains in double-digit territory.

At equivalent operating margins, operating profit increases by 12%, from $75 to $84 billion. Earnings per share, on the other hand, jumped by 27%: this astonishing difference is explained by a tax bill more or less similar to last year's, despite the rise in earnings. In this respect, Alphabet's tax optimization skills are well worth noting.

The increase in earnings per share can also be explained - in part - by the reduction in the number of shares outstanding, with capital divided into 12.7 billion shares at the end of 2023, compared with 13.1 billion shares at the end of 2022. This still represents a whopping $61 billion spent on share buy-backs over the last twelve months, i.e. almost the entire profit.

Another measure of Alphabet's gigantism is the $22.5 billion in remuneration linked to stock options and the like over the past year, i.e. a third of the total amount of share buy-backs over the corresponding period.

Google's advertising services and YouTube still generate three-quarters of Alphabet's sales, with an operating margin in this segment of over 30%. This is followed by software solutions and cloud activities, where the operating margin is much lower, at around 9%.

While it remains a veritable cash factory, Alphabet has for some time been facing a veritable "cultural" crisis, much discussed in the American press. This context is compounded by a wave of massive layoffs, the cost of which has cost the group a total of $2.1 billion over 2023.

These factors do not prevent the company from maintaining a valuation of thirty times earnings, exactly its ten-year average.