MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google’s parent company Alphabet took a $10 billion hit from the new federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, leading to a $3 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2017, the firm reported Thursday.
The tax blow also hit shareholders’ earnings, leaving them with a $4.35 loss per share for the quarter.
On the positive side, the Mountain View tech giant blew past Wall Street’s revenue expectations, chalking up earnings of $32.3 billion, more than $6 billion higher than analysts had predicted.
Absent the tax changes, Alphabet would’ve topped $6.8 billion in profit, and earnings per share would have been $9.70, the company said in its earnings release.
Alphabet also announced a new board chair to replace Eric Schmidt, who announced his resignation in December.
New chair John L. Hennessy has been a board member since 2004. He is a former Stanford University president and a computer scientist.
In explaining the tax’s impact, Alphabet cited $9.9 billion in extra taxation from a “one-time transition tax on accumulated foreign subsidiary earnings and deferred tax impacts.” That transition tax resulted from the December enactment of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Alphabet said.
The company also announced Thursday that on Wednesday, its board approved an $8.6 billion stock buyback of its Class C shares, saying the repurchase would take place “from time to time” through open-market purchases or privately negotiated deals.
