In the pandemic economy, tech companies are raking it in

[Jating]

Very interesting to find out that these tech companies are making huge money in this pandemic, but not totally surprising though.

Despite a massive decline in advertising spending, YouTube revenue rose to $3.8 billion this year from $3.6 billion last year. Facebook’s business is largely ad-based as well — and its revenue also rose to $18.7 billion as its users doomscrolled their way through the pandemic, even though several companies publicly boycotted the platform.

Meanwhile, Amazon doubled its profit as more people ordered delivery to their homes: $5.2 billion this quarter, from $2.6 billion last year. And Apple, which had many of its stores closed for chunks of the quarter, still made $11.25 billion in profit as people bought devices to entertain themselves.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/30/21348652/pandemic-earnings-antitrust-google-facebook-apple-amazon

While the US economy is on the looming recession, those giant tech are the one who gets the most benefit out of the pandemic, regardless if there is a House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the market power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google and the net effect is the tech antitrust hearing was good, actually.

[Kemarit]

Regardless of the pandemic, I think the big four are bound to make money in billions anyways. And just that in this situation, there profit are more pronounced because almost all industries are suffering. But since their target is a close niche market there are really going to get the most benefit.

Like Zoom for instance, a enterprise video product, and as more people started to embrace the "new norm' but doing work from home, obviously, this kind of cloud base conferencing will be one of the hottest commodities. Same as online ordering, helping bridge the gap from food to anything that you needed can be purchase online now. And then people on Youtube and Facebook and Google all the time so this is no surprising.

[Darker45]

There's still money even in wars and pandemics and other darkest days of humanity. As a matter of fact, Jeff Bezos recovered his pre-divorce worth and even topped that to reach an all-time high in the middle of the pandemic.

These types of businesses are not those which would bow down to the circumstances brought forth by the pandemic. On the contrary, they have the edge over others. COVID-19 most probably brought more people online and more online hours from the majority.  

[Lorence.xD]

There's still money even in wars and pandemics and other darkest days of humanity. As a matter of fact, Jeff Bezos recovered his pre-divorce worth and even topped that to reach an all-time high in the middle of the pandemic.

These types of businesses are not those which would bow down to the circumstances brought forth by the pandemic. On the contrary, they have the edge over others. COVID-19 most probably brought more people online and more online hours from the majority. 

The number of people online definitely increased which spells profits for these companies, I do think that there is nothing wrong with that, despite the high cases of virus in the US, the thing that makes these company afloat is they have customers around the world, which means that they do not have a shortage of customers unless people from around the world decided to go offline.

[Oasisman]

Interesting how people can still afford to buy gadgets such as Apple devices, while some are complaining for the loss of job thus crippling their daily income.
I won't be surprised with YouTube and Facebook ads, since people have ample of time to spend in the internet.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

[Upgrade00]

The returns of these social services is really not a surprise, as people turn to them for entertainment during these period and they are also means of connecting businesses to customers without physical contact.

regardless if there is a House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the market power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google and the net effect is the tech antitrust hearing was good, actually.

Most people are really not bothered by the fine print of the investigations or  the outcome of these hearings, so it's unlikely it will hurt their profits especially as people have become hugely reliant on the services they provide.
These hearings also are means to get giant tech cooperations to check themselves and not really leading up to sanctions or charges. This happened during the last investigation and hearing on Facebook's poliicy; lots of emotions were shown, but it got off with just a warning.
An actual trial and sanction of these businesses would be a huge financial venture, with the companies owning lots of money to throw around to lobbyists.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

The toilet paper was really just a bubble during the early periods as artificial scarcirty was created, so people panicked and bought more creating even more scarcity.

[Juggy777]

w

Very interesting to find out that these tech companies are making huge money in this pandemic, but not totally surprising though.

Despite a massive decline in advertising spending, YouTube revenue rose to $3.8 billion this year from $3.6 billion last year. Facebook’s business is largely ad-based as well — and its revenue also rose to $18.7 billion as its users doomscrolled their way through the pandemic, even though several companies publicly boycotted the platform.

Meanwhile, Amazon doubled its profit as more people ordered delivery to their homes: $5.2 billion this quarter, from $2.6 billion last year. And Apple, which had many of its stores closed for chunks of the quarter, still made $11.25 billion in profit as people bought devices to entertain themselves.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/30/21348652/pandemic-earnings-antitrust-google-facebook-apple-amazon

While the US economy is on the looming recession, those giant tech are the one who gets the most benefit out of the pandemic, regardless if there is a House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the market power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google and the net effect is the tech antitrust hearing was good, actually.

@Jating there’s really nothing surprising about this news because advertisers stopped spending in lifestyle and sports niche, but gaming and kids niche witnessed more spending so their books were always going to be balanced. Lastly people have consumed more videos in the wake of the pandemic, and video ads is the alternative way to earn more money for these social giants, hence if you had been studying the trends after covid began you too would not have been surprised about their revenues.

Sources:

https://www.primis.tech/insights/video-demand-supply-covid-19-era/

https://www.primis.tech/insights/publishers-leverage-video-consumption-growth-during-lockdown/

[Twinkledoe]

Interesting how people can still afford to buy gadgets such as Apple devices, while some are complaining for the loss of job thus crippling their daily income.
I won't be surprised with YouTube and Facebook ads, since people have ample of time to spend in the internet.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

A lot of youtubers earn good income despite this pandemic as a lot of people are stuck in front of their computers. Just like for example myself, I have few subscriptions in YT before the pandemic happens, but today, I have a lot of channels that are now following and it varies according to my interests. And I don't skip ads if I know that video is something that I support with. I don't own a channel but I find a lot of these YT channels interesting, which I haven't noticed before the pandemic. And I can say, a lot of these YouTubers are earning good income based from what they are showing to their followers. There are also new creators that are now having huge following and earnings also. You just need to meet certain reqmts to have your channel open for ads/monetization. And presto, they are earning while they are enjoying their time showing themselves to the world.

[NavI_027]

Like what other's said, the news was not surprising because that's what we really expected. These companies boom because of boredom and forced isolation due to pandemic. Aside from social media and e-commerce companies, I think another kind of business which get the spotlight in these recent times are the money remittance centers and delivery sercvices. Here in our country, I can feel that such businesses are growing rapidly.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

The toilet paper was really just a bubble during the early periods as artificial scarcirty was created, so people panicked and bought more creating even more scarcity.

Is that for real? I mean, is there really a high demand happened on toilet papers? I Heard about it before but I thought they were just joking. Im sorry, I can't relate because I do believe that most of the people are into soap and water lol . Well, if that's the case then maybe I'm wrong.

[amishmanish]

Americans are simultaneously more reliant on Big Tech- and less trusting of it

Not just Americans but people everywhere have a natural tendency to be less trusting of Big tech. It is mostly because of the closed source nature as well as the amount of influence that targeted news and targeted advertising is making. Google and Facebook have become aggregators of political and social information. They are so pretty off from their initial goals of and romantic tag lines like "Don't be evil". Both need to do so much more in terms of targeting individuals with information resulting in the formation of water-tight compartments of opinions which characterize our social and political atmosphere at present.

Clubbing these two with Amazon and Apple obviously doesn't make sense except that these hearings have nothing to do with public's trust of them. They are just anti-monopoly checks from the regulators i suppose. I would like Facebook to vanish off the face of earth ideally. Rest of the three are just fine as long as Google doesn't restart its stupid attempts at a social network. Does anybody remember ever caring about Google+ ?

[sunsilk]

The pandemic made those companies earn more because everyone is at home and has nothing to do but to watch on YouTube, buy things on Amazon, and use Facebook to browse and communicate with other people.

But also the good news is that these websites also helped thousands of people to make a living during the pandemic. More orders through social media and businesses were made and that's also the other side that we must appreciate with their rise.

[Lucius]

Interesting how people can still afford to buy gadgets such as Apple devices, while some are complaining for the loss of job thus crippling their daily income.
I won't be surprised with YouTube and Facebook ads, since people have ample of time to spend in the internet.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

The pandemic has definitely affected a large percentage of the human population, some quite severely - but some still live as if nothing has happened. We all know that Americans received financial aid in the form of stimulus checks, and similar things were done by some other countries - although not on such a large financial scale. Part of that money was probably spent on various devices that people have fun with while in isolation. And of course, all digital services record a growth in profits when part of life is transferred online, so for them the pandemic is actually a very useful phenomenon.

All manufacturers of protective equipment (masks, gloves, disinfectants) are making record revenues since the prices of such things have risen at least x10 compared to the prices before the virus appeared. Of course, most of it still comes from China, but production has been launched in other countries to avoid scenes from a few months ago when there was literally a real little trade war going on for every face mask.

[Reatim]

Interesting how people can still afford to buy gadgets such as Apple devices, while some are complaining for the loss of job thus crippling their daily income.
I won't be surprised with YouTube and Facebook ads, since people have ample of time to spend in the internet.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

Seems that there are still people who have a lots of reserves and still capable of buying stuff like that, this pandemic really hits those who are in the lower class they are the one who suffered.

Losing job and opportunities to do with small businesses that needs to be outside, this people are now suffering, though those who are from the first class society.

The reserves are still enough to continue enjoying the luxuries even this pandemic still active and still affecting most of the economies of the world.

[LogitechMouse]

~

Different companies shined up even the pandemic occurred.

Youtube's revenue is I think expected because many people right now are spending their time watching some videos on it so that they will not feel bored. Quite surprised with Facebook's revenue despite the companies leaving the company because of some problems. With regards to Amazon, I already expected that they will be the ones who will get profit because in our country companies with the same niche as Amazon (Lazada and Shopee) got more customers too because of the quarantine and people can't go out to buy something. With Apple, nothing much to say .

Businessman still find their ways to get some profit despite the pandemic that hit the world .

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Seems that there are still people who have a lots of reserves and still capable of buying stuff like that, this pandemic really hits those who are in the lower class they are the one who suffered.

Probably because they didn't planned their life for emergency like this, always living hand to mouth and never had any savings. Many people used this pandemic crisis to uplift their financial status because they were prepared and grab the opportunity when it presented itself. Just imagine the opportunity the price of bitcoin offered when it got hitted by the pandemic declining to around +/-$4k.

Other assets like stocks, commodity etc also offered similar opportunities but many refused to grab it probably due to fud. Sometimes we are the problem not that the government. Those who planned their life's are probably benefiting right now and this should served as a lesson to the next generation.

[Coyster]

For me, I think if you want to measure the effect of the pandemic, you should start with the small scale businesses, those that lack revenues and billions of dollars to fall back on in a situation like this one, for companies like Facebook, youtube for example, this companies rank as one of the biggest world wide, they will obviously face set backs, as this amounts they have made this year, would have been more, without the pandemic, but they are still generating billions, so it looks totally fine when everyone looks at it.

Microeconomics on the other hand continue to face a huge setback in most countries with lack of support and funds, and it's a clearer indication of the economic recession; government should ensure an even distribution of funds to this businesses to recover from their losses and debts they have incurred during this period.

[plvbob0070]

It's because most people are on the internet since we are stuck inside our houses and have nothing to do. An example is YouTube, a lot of people are either suddenly creating their own channels (expecting to be big just like other YouTubers) or binge-watching different videos on YT. Since they can't do anything, most ate just switching different apps on their phone.

As for online shopping, not only in Amazon, I have also seen that a lot of people enjoying it these days. Because for others, it's safer to buy things online than going outside. Even me, I get attracted to buying things online especially Facebook is showing a lot of ads. Even if we say that most people are struggling financially due to the pandemic, people would still make way to provide things they need and want. Also, no wonder why a lot of people are now selling online because people are mostly on the internet.

[GeorgeJohn]

I think many companies suffered during pandemic even till now their still passing into hardship due to covid19. Even some countries lost their economy due to mismanagement and embezzlement of funds by their politicians.

What really affecting some companies is based on the raw materials already bought for industrial processions due to covid19 outbreak the raw materials spoiled or damaged.
Even in some countries,many tasked companies for financial support for eradication of covid19, so therefore this can equally bring some companies down.

[Heart18]

Interesting how people can still afford to buy gadgets such as Apple devices, while some are complaining for the loss of job thus crippling their daily income.
I won't be surprised with YouTube and Facebook ads, since people have ample of time to spend in the internet.

I'm also wondering how much does the toilet paper and facemask companies are earning since the beginning of the pandemic.

The pandemic has definitely affected a large percentage of the human population, some quite severely - but some still live as if nothing has happened. We all know that Americans received financial aid in the form of stimulus checks, and similar things were done by some other countries - although not on such a large financial scale. Part of that money was probably spent on various devices that people have fun with while in isolation. And of course, all digital services record a growth in profits when part of life is transferred online, so for them the pandemic is actually a very useful phenomenon.

All manufacturers of protective equipment (masks, gloves, disinfectants) are making record revenues since the prices of such things have risen at least x10 compared to the prices before the virus appeared. Of course, most of it still comes from China, but production has been launched in other countries to avoid scenes from a few months ago when there was literally a real little trade war going on for every face mask.

You are right. A lot of industries were struggling and other are totally dead but this companies are gaining because they are extremely needed this time. Tech companies are highly in demand due to this pandemic where we just need to stay home and we used to do a lot of transactions online. Same goes to a lot of companies that produce essential goods for us. This pandemic brought more profits to all this companies, and its great, because the economy of the world will not totally die because of them.

[Findingnemo]

They made profits from social media advertisements and that's quite understandable because its quarantine people spend most of their time on Netflix or Youtube so more ads will be shows which means more revenue for the company, when take amazon's profits that is also not a surprise because its lockdown people are afraid to come outside so that e-commerce site is making huge profits in that time.

While other industry like gaming also got bloomed in that period but entertainment and lot others are in deep losses.