The Revenue LinesWide moat

Alphabet (Google) (GOOGL) — moat facet

Six revenue lines and one of them pays for the rest: Services keeps about 41 cents of each dollar, Cloud about 24, and Other Bets loses $4.89 for every dollar it collects.

Alphabet reports its revenue in six lines, and the usual way of listing them hides the most useful fact about them: they are not six versions of one business. In 2025 Google Search & other brought in $224,532 million, YouTube ads $40,367 million, Google Network $29,792 million, subscriptions, platforms and devices $48,030 million, Google Cloud $58,705 million and Other Bets $1,537 million, out of $402,836 million in all1. Three of those lines sell advertising. One sells subscriptions, app-store commissions and phones. One rents computing. The last is a set of young companies that mostly spend money. The pages under this heading take them one at a time: where each came from, how it is paid, whether it makes a profit, how fast it grows and what could change that.

Revenue growth by line, 2025 against 2024 (%)Google Cloud+35.8%Subscriptions & devices+19.1%Search & other+13.4%YouTube ads+11.7%Google Network−1.9%Other Bets−6.7%Red bars are declines, drawn at their size. Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2025
Growth runs almost opposite to size: the smallest large line grows fastest, and the two that shrank are the partner ad network and the moonshots.

The profit is far more concentrated than the revenue. Alphabet reports operating income for three segments only, and the split is stark. Google Services, which holds the three advertising lines plus subscriptions and devices, earned $139,404 million on $342,721 million of revenue in 2025, Google Cloud earned $13,910 million, and Other Bets lost $7,515 million2. Roughly 41 cents of every Services dollar became operating profit, against about 24 cents in Cloud3. The advertising machine still pays for the laboratory, the data centres and the moonshots, and the page on Google Search & other explains why it can.

Growth runs in almost the opposite order. Between 2024 and 2025 Google Cloud grew 35.8%, subscriptions, platforms and devices 19.1%, Search & other 13.4% and YouTube ads 11.7%, while Google Network shrank 1.9% and Other Bets 6.7%4. The second quarter of 2026 stretched the spread further: Cloud revenue rose 82% to $24,768 million while Network slipped to $7,303 million from $7,354 million a year earlier5. The line that earns the most is a steady grower, the fastest grower earns less per dollar but is closing the gap quickly, and the one that has shrunk three years running is the partner business on which Google once built its reach across the web.

Over the whole period the filings allow, the mix has moved less than the headlines suggest. Alphabet's annual reports break out YouTube ads and Google Cloud from 2017, when Search & other was $69,811 million of $110,855 million6. That was about 63% of revenue; in 2025 it was about 56%, and Cloud had gone from under 4% of the total to more than 14%7. Everything else moved around the edges. A company described every quarter as being remade by AI still takes more than half its revenue from people typing questions into a box and clicking on the answers someone paid for.

What ties the six lines together is a shared cost base rather than shared customers. The same data centres serve search queries, YouTube streams and Cloud tenants, and the same Gemini models run inside Search, Workspace and Google One. Some of that cost is never allocated to a line at all: Alphabet-level activities, which the filing says primarily reflect shared AI research and development, cost $16,760 million in 2025 against $9,186 million in 20238. Alphabet has also moved costs between buckets before — Google DeepMind has been reported within Alphabet-level activities since the second quarter of 20239 — so segment margins are best read as a trend within one basis rather than as fixed facts.

The verdict is that this is a search company with a fast-maturing cloud business attached, and the order of importance will not flip soon. What would change it is the gap between the two margins. Google Services earned about 42% in the second quarter of 2026 and Cloud 35.6%10; if Cloud's margin settles above Services' while it keeps growing several times faster, Alphabet will own a second business as good as its first rather than merely a second large one.

Moat trajectory: Widening

The mix is broadening in the right direction: the two fastest-growing lines, Cloud and subscriptions, are also the two whose profitability is improving, while the one shrinking line, Network, is the lowest-margin advertising business Alphabet has. Search & other still grew 13.4% in 2025 and 17% in the second quarter of 2026, so the broadening is not coming at the core's expense.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Operating income by segment, 2025
Services $139.4B · Cloud $13.9B · Other Bets −$7.5B

Revenue is spread across six lines, but the profit is not: Google Services earned about 41% on $342.7B, Cloud about 24% on $58.7B, and Other Bets lost money. The number that would change the picture is Cloud's margin moving above Services' while it keeps growing several times faster.

Source: Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2025 (segment information) ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
Google Search & Other
A twenty-five-year-old auction still adds more revenue in one year than YouTube's ad business added in four, and paid clicks, not headlines about AI…
DIG DEEPER 02
YouTube Ads
The most-watched distributor on American television still grows its advertising more slowly than Google's search engine; that gap is the whole…
DIG DEEPER 03
Google Network
The only shrinking line is also the one the courts are circling, and every dollar it loses makes Alphabet's margins look better.
DIG DEEPER 04
Subscriptions, Platforms & Devices
The one place ordinary people pay Google directly is growing about a fifth a year, and is about to learn whether Gemini subscribers can outrun a…
DIG DEEPER 05
Google Cloud
From a $5.6 billion loss to a 36% quarterly margin in five years; the depreciation still to come on the data centres decides whether that margin is…
DIG DEEPER 06
Other Bets
The drawer loses more as its best bet grows more valuable: $7.5 billion lost on $1.5 billion of revenue in 2025.
References
  1. ReportedIn 2025 Google Search & other brought in $224,532 million, YouTube ads $40,367 million, Google Network $29,792 million, subscriptions, platforms and devices $48,030 million, Google Cloud $58,705 million and Other Bets $1,537 million, out of $402,836 million in all.
    Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2025 — Note 2, revenues by type: Google Search & other $175,033m / $198,084m / $224,532m; YouTube ads $31,510m / $36,147m / $40,367m; Google Network $31,312m / $30,359m / $29,792m; Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices $34,688m / $40,340m / $48,030m; Google Cloud $33,088m / $43,229m / $58,705m; Other Bets $1,527m / $1,648m / $1,537m; total revenues $307,394m / $350,018m / $402,836m (2023 / 2024 / 2025) — FY2023–FY2025 · publ. February 5, 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedGoogle Services, which holds the three advertising lines plus subscriptions and devices, earned $139,404 million on $342,721 million of revenue in 2025, Google Cloud earned $13,910 million, and Other Bets lost $7,515 million.
    Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment note and MD&A: operating income Google Services $95,858m / $121,263m / $139,404m on revenue of $272,543m / $304,930m / $342,721m; Google Cloud $1,716m / $6,112m / $13,910m, with employee compensation $19,054m / $20,519m / $22,078m and other costs $12,318m / $16,598m / $22,717m; Other Bets $(4,095)m / $(4,444)m / $(7,515)m; Alphabet-level activities $(9,186)m / $(10,541)m / $(16,760)m, primarily shared AI research and development (2023 / 2024 / 2025) — FY2023–FY2025 · publ. February 5, 2026 · source ↗
  3. Moat Explorer calcRoughly 41 cents of every Services dollar became operating profit, against about 24 cents in Cloud.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Alphabet's filed revenue and segment figures (Forms 10-K FY2019, FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2025; Q1 and Q2 2026 releases) — growth rates, shares of revenue, compound annual growth, segment operating margins and loss-per-revenue-dollar ratios — FY2017–Q2 2026 · publ. Computed September 2026 · source ↗
  4. Moat Explorer calcBetween 2024 and 2025 Google Cloud grew 35.8%, subscriptions, platforms and devices 19.1%, Search & other 13.4% and YouTube ads 11.7%, while Google Network shrank 1.9% and Other Bets 6.7%.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Alphabet's filed revenue and segment figures (Forms 10-K FY2019, FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2025; Q1 and Q2 2026 releases) — growth rates, shares of revenue, compound annual growth, segment operating margins and loss-per-revenue-dollar ratios — FY2017–Q2 2026 · publ. Computed September 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe second quarter of 2026 stretched the spread further: Cloud revenue rose 82% to $24,768 million while Network slipped to $7,303 million from $7,354 million a year earlier.
    Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings release — quarter ended June 30, 2026 against 2025: Search & other $63,271m vs $54,190m; YouTube ads $11,055m vs $9,796m; Google Network $7,303m vs $7,354m; subscriptions, platforms, and devices $12,911m vs $11,203m; Google Cloud $24,768m vs $13,624m (+82%) with operating income $8,814m vs $2,826m; Google Services operating income $39,544m on $94,540m; Other Bets revenue $382m vs $373m and operating loss $(1,799)m vs $(1,246)m — Q2 2026 · publ. July 22, 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedAlphabet's annual reports break out YouTube ads and Google Cloud from 2017, when Search & other was $69,811 million of $110,855 million.
    Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2019 — revenues by type for 2017, 2018 and 2019: Search & other $69,811m / $85,296m / $98,115m; YouTube ads $8,150m / $11,155m / $15,149m; Google Network Members' properties $17,616m / $20,010m / $21,547m; Google Cloud $4,056m / $5,838m / $8,918m; Google other $10,914m / $14,063m / $17,014m; Other Bets $477m / $595m / $659m; total $110,855m / $136,819m / $161,857m — FY2017–FY2019 · publ. February 4, 2020 · source ↗
  7. Moat Explorer calcThat was about 63% of revenue; in 2025 it was about 56%, and Cloud had gone from under 4% of the total to more than 14%.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Alphabet's filed revenue and segment figures (Forms 10-K FY2019, FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2025; Q1 and Q2 2026 releases) — growth rates, shares of revenue, compound annual growth, segment operating margins and loss-per-revenue-dollar ratios — FY2017–Q2 2026 · publ. Computed September 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedSome of that cost is never allocated to a line at all: Alphabet-level activities, which the filing says primarily reflect shared AI research and development, cost $16,760 million in 2025 against $9,186 million in 2023.
    Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2025 — segment note and MD&A: operating income Google Services $95,858m / $121,263m / $139,404m on revenue of $272,543m / $304,930m / $342,721m; Google Cloud $1,716m / $6,112m / $13,910m, with employee compensation $19,054m / $20,519m / $22,078m and other costs $12,318m / $16,598m / $22,717m; Other Bets $(4,095)m / $(4,444)m / $(7,515)m; Alphabet-level activities $(9,186)m / $(10,541)m / $(16,760)m, primarily shared AI research and development (2023 / 2024 / 2025) — FY2023–FY2025 · publ. February 5, 2026 · source ↗
  9. ReportedAlphabet has also moved costs between buckets before — Google DeepMind has been reported within Alphabet-level activities since the second quarter of 2023 — so segment margins are best read as a trend within one basis rather than as fixed facts.
    Alphabet Form 10-K, FY2023 — revenues by type for 2022 (Search & other $162,450m, YouTube ads $29,243m, Google Network $32,780m, Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices $29,055m, Google Cloud $26,280m, Other Bets $1,068m) and recast segment operating income for 2022 (Google Cloud $(1,922)m, Other Bets $(4,636)m); Google DeepMind reported within Alphabet-level activities from the second quarter of 2023 — FY2022–FY2023 · publ. January 31, 2024 · source ↗
  10. Moat Explorer calcGoogle Services earned about 42% in the second quarter of 2026 and Cloud 35.6%; if Cloud's margin settles above Services' while it keeps growing several times faster, Alphabet will own a second business as good as its first rather than merely a second large one.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Alphabet's filed revenue and segment figures (Forms 10-K FY2019, FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2025; Q1 and Q2 2026 releases) — growth rates, shares of revenue, compound annual growth, segment operating margins and loss-per-revenue-dollar ratios — FY2017–Q2 2026 · publ. Computed September 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 16, 2026