In its quarterly financial report, Alphabet said Google Cloud generated quarterly sales of $9.192 billion compared with $7.315 billion a year earlier, an increase of 26%. The quarterly operating loss for Google Cloud narrowed to ($863 million), compared with a loss of ($1.237 billion) a year earlier.
In January 2023, Google completed an evaluation of how long their servers and network equipment last. As a result, they extended the expected lifespan of their servers from four to six years, and for some network equipment from five to six years. This new accounting estimate, effective from fiscal year 2023, led to a decrease in depreciation expenses by $983 million and $3.9 billion. Consequently, net income increased by $765 million and $3.0 billion, which translates to earnings of $0.06 and $0.24 per basic share, and the same per diluted share, for the three and twelve months ending December 31, 2023, respectively.
