Alphabet’s miss fans inflation fears across digital advertising

Google parent Alphabet Inc’s disappointing ad sales sparked worries across the digital media sector as advertisers cut back on their spending in the face of an economic slowdown.

Alphabet called out slowing spending by advertisers on YouTube, said financial services spending was cooling on Google, and plans to cut hiring by more than half.

The negative results shattered many expectations that Google, which is the world’s largest digital advertising platform by market share, would remain strong in a weakening economy and reinforced worries on Wall Street that inflation will continue to hurt advertising spending. Last week, smaller rival Snap Inc’s slowest-ever revenue growth rate sent inflation fears through tech sector and temporarily wiped out $40 billion in market capitalization.