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It’s tech earnings season! And amid the tariff chaos and predictions of a recession, you know who still comes out on top? Yeah, it’s the tech billionaires. At least for now.
Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Apple all outperformed analyst expectations. Although the results only reflect the companies’ status through March 31, before Trump’s tariff torpedo in April.
Microsoft reported its best-ever quarterly revenue, topping Wall Street’s predictions of $68.4 billion with $70.1 billion. Google reported earnings of $90.2 billion over a forecast $89.1 billion.
Meta reported $42.3 billion in revenue—a cool billion over the forecast $41.3 billion. Perhaps advertisers were taking advantage of consumers rushing to score the last wave of tariff-free merchandise; advertising revenue for Meta came in at $41.4 billion over an expected $40.5 billion.
Amazon also beat Wall Street predictions, coming in with quarterly earnings of $155.7 billion over an expected $155.1 billion. The online retail giant hedged its bets for the current quarter, anticipating up to $17.5 billion in income, while analysts were expecting to hear a number closer to $17.8 billion.
Apple followed the trend, reporting $95.4 billion, over the $94.7 billion analysts had estimated. But Apple’s share price fell afterCEO Tim Cook’s admission that it’s “very difficult” to predict Q3 revenue due to the tariffs. He said that if tariffs remain at the current levels, Apple could expect a $900 million cost increase.
Apple also had a hard week in court, where a judge called out Alex Roman, the company’s VP of finance, saying he “outright lied under oath” during the Epic Games App Store antitrust case.
A rising tech tide raises all (tech) ships. Nvidia saw a stock price bump as the tech giants reported record earnings and as they continue to invest heavily in AI. None of the companies hinted that they were pivoting away from Nvidia for in-house chips, bolstering Nvidia’s place as the top dog in hardware.
There were some concerns that amid an economic downturn, AWS and Microsoft would pull back on data center spending, but those seem to be unfounded. But Apple did say it’ll be delaying the smarter AI Siri, as “we need more time to complete our work on these features,” according to Cook.
It sounds like tech is still all in, all the time, on AI. And on making money.