Apple, Amazon and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, presented disappointing annual figures on Thursday. Apple recorded its largest quarterly revenue decline in nearly seven years. Amazon reported disappointing revenues and Alphabet saw a decline in advertisers.
The loss at Apple was mainly due to production problems at a large factory in China. This ensured that the tech group could deliver fewer iPhones. The weakening economy also resulted in lower turnover. For the first time since 2016, the company failed to deliver the results analysts had expected. The average estimate by them was a quarterly turnover of $ 121 billion. The tech giant only made $117 billion, down 5.49 percent from last year.
Apple’s revenue decline was not limited to one region. Sales fell in all areas, with relatively the most in Europe. The company made $30 billion in profit last year. A year earlier that was still 34.6 billion dollars.
Online store Amazon booked a higher turnover last year, the company sold nine percent more. Despite this, the company reported a net loss of $2.7 billion in 2022, compared to a net profit of $33.4 billion the year before. The loss was largely due to the decline in value of a stake the company holds in electric vehicle maker Rivian.
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The American webshop recently announced that it would lay off more than 18,000 employees. After this round of layoffs, the company foresees that no further reorganizations will be necessary.
Alphabet also cut 12,000 jobs last month, about six percent of the global workforce. Google is largely dependent on ad revenue. Alphabet saw a sharp fall in profits as advertising sales came under pressure as advertisers tightened their spending due to the uncertain economy. The company’s revenue was about $63 billion, significantly less than the $76 billion in 2021.