Google parent Alphabet ended 2021 on a high note, with $75.3 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, as it looks to challenge Apple in the fitness space.
The impressive sum represented a 32% year-over-year increase. The quarter capped a year that saw the tech giant’s revenue grow to $257.6 billion, up 41% from 2020.
- Alphabet banked $20.6 billion in net income in Q4 and $76 billion on the year.
- In December, Alphabet reached a deal with Disney to keep ESPN, ABC, and other Disney-owned channels on YouTube TV, after contentious negotiations between the two sides.
- The company also announced a 20-for-one stock split, pending shareholder approval.
Fitness Play Coming?
Google TV, a platform enabled on various smart TVs and other devices, could soon incorporate fitness capabilities that integrate with data from wearables, not unlike the pairing of Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+.
Google touted 110 million active devices with Android TV, the platform underlying Google TV, as of last month.
The company is expected to launch its first in-house smartwatch with fitness tracking features later this year.
Alphabet telegraphed its move into fitness-tracking wearables with the acquisition of Fitbit, completed in January 2021 for a reported $2.1 billion. The deal is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over privacy issues.
