They’re feeling lucky … for the moment. Alphabet’s quarterly profits grew 73 percent year on year, from $5.4 billion in 2017 to $9.4 billion this year. That includes a one-off tax benefit, but also a booming ad business — which led the company to engage in a spending bonanza, more than doubling its first quarter expenditures from last year. Meanwhile, new EU data protection rules are set to go into effect next month. Violations could land Alphabet massive fines and bad will as U.S. lawmakers also consider new regulations.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.ozy.com