Alphabet CEO Pichai highlights ads, AI as priorities this year
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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Wednesday that despite what was a "challenging" end to 2021, the Internet services and information provider was still able to come through with a strong business quarter, due in part to the success of its advertising business.
Speaking on a conference call to discuss Alphabet's (GOOG) fourth-quarter results, Pichai said the company had "a very strong quarter for ads" in which it launched multiple new features for "the businesses that are the backbone of our global community."
Shortly after U.S. stock markets closed, Alphabet (GOOG) reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that surpassed Wall Street's expectations, including advertising revenue of $61.2 billion, up from $46.2 billion in the year-ago period.
Pichai added that Alphabet's focus for 2022 will be on "evolving our knowledge and information productivity" and that investments in areas such as artificial intelligence "will be key" throughout the year.
"We're deeply investing in AI, and applying that across the company, but particularly in the area of search," Pichai said. 
Another area of strength that Pichai highlighted was the company's Google Cloud business, which rose by almost 45% from a year ago, to $5.54 billion. 
Alphabet (GOOG) shares climbed by almost 9% in after-hours trading following the company's results and Pichai's comments. In addition to its better-than-expected earnings report, Alphabet (GOOG) also said it would enact a 20-for-1 stock split in July.