Alphabet saw its revenue increase 13% year-over-year in the second quarter as it looks for a major strike in the sports rights space.

The Google parent is reportedly bidding on “NFL Sunday Ticket,” pitting it against fellow tech giants Apple and Amazon.

• The company saw revenues reach $69.7 billion.
• Net income dipped 13.6% to $16 billion.
• Search revenue hit $40.7 billion, while YouTube added $7.3 billion.

Google CBO Phillipp Schindler touted YouTube’s unique power in the investor call following the earnings release, noting that “49% of users who saw a Super Bowl ad on YouTube did not see the same ad on TV.”

Schindler added that this was YouTube’s first year it participated in upfront ad conferences.

Despite missing estimates, Alphabet’s stock grew around 2% in after-market training.

YouTube’s Sports Play

While YouTube has maintained its primary use as a video platform, Google has explored adding a major sports media property. 

The company has reportedly placed a bid for “NFL Sunday Ticket.” The NFL is looking for $2.5 billion annually for the out-of-market games package.

The company also considered placing a bid on streaming rights to the massively popular Indian Premier League, which notched 600 million viewers in 2021. Those rights were won by Viacom18 for $2.6 billion.

CEO Sundar Pichai said that YouTube TV surpassed 5 million subscribers, including trial users.

Microsoft reported $51.9 billion in revenue in fiscal Q4, marking its slowest revenue growth since 2020, as it undergoes the approval process for the biggest gaming acquisition in history.

The tech giant generated $198.3 billion in revenue in FY2022, an 18% uptick compared to the same period last year. Full-year operating income reached $83.4 billion, growing by 18%. 

• Microsoft Cloud posted $25 billion in revenue in Q4, a 28% increase year-over-year. 
• Its Personal Computing segment — which includes Xbox — saw revenue hit $14.4 billion in Q4.
• Xbox content and services reported a 6% decrease in revenue compared to Q4 2021.
• Gaming revenue fell by $259 million in fiscal Q4 2022 — a 7% decline year-over-year. 

Microsoft attributed the drop in gaming revenue to a decrease in Xbox hardware sold, which was also compounded by the decline in Xbox content and services revenue in Q4. The company, like many others in tech, has suffered from the ongoing semiconductor shortage.

Lengthy Process

Earlier this month, Microsoft submitted “Second Request” documents to the FTC regarding its $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, which could be approved as soon as August.

Microsoft is close to gaining approval from the FTC, but its deal for Activision is being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority — a U.K. antitrust watchdog. The CMA is considering whether the deal will harm competition, lead to high prices, or reduce choices.

France is preparing for a unique, grandiose, and exorbitantly expensive 2024 Olympics.

The country is currently looking at a total tab of at least $8.6 billion, up from an initial estimate of $6.9 billion. 

• Inflation, which hit 6.5% last month in France, could bring the cost to more than $10 billion, mainly due to increased costs of shipping and materials.
• The country is also beefing up its planned security, with 11,000 police officers on the ground each day and up to 25,000 security agents.

Organizers are focused on inclusion, highlighted by the slogan “Games wide open,” and plan to use the Games to highlight LGBTQ rights, gender equality, and disabled people’s rights. Prices for each sport will start around $24 and close to half the tickets will go for around $50 or less.

In-Seine Ceremony

Rather than holding the opening ceremony inside a stadium, organizers are planning an event on the Seine, the famous river that runs through Paris. With an expected 600,000 attendees, the ceremony could be the largest in Olympic history.

Boats will carry the Games’ 10,500 athletes past city landmarks. Ticketed seats will be sold close to the river, but most attendees will be able to watch for free.

The dominant player in the American Spanish-language media market is investing heavily in soccer rights as part of its streaming push.

TelevisaUnivision recorded an 11% year-over-year increase in revenue to $1.1 billion but took a $7.5 million loss in the second quarter, compared to a $54.4 million profit in Q2 2021.

• The company, which claims a 63.2% market share of Spanish-language television in the U.S. during prime time, launched its ad-supported streaming service ViX in March, and paid service, ViX+ last week.
• “We are investing a significant amount of incremental dollars in content and sports rights [for ViX] above and beyond our networks,” said TelevisaUnivision president Pierluigi Gazzolo.
• In May, the network struck deals for UEFA’s Euro 2024 and Euro 2028 tournaments and the Concacaf Champions League.

Televisa and Univision closed their $4.8 billion merger in January. The company announced a $1.5 billion debt refinancing last month.

‘Home of Soccer’

The self-proclaimed “home of soccer” also holds rights to MLS at $15 million per season, as well as those for La Liga, Liga MX, Copa America, and Copa MX. It also has partnerships with NFL and MLB teams, and holds rights to Combate Americas.

Advertising revenue grew 11% year-over-year in Q2 to $668.6 million, and the company expects a bump in the second half from the World Cup.