Google's parent company, Alphabet, stock price leapt some nine percent in after-hours trade on Thursday after reporting stronger-than-expected results driven by gains in online advertising.

Alphabet, which generates about 85 percent of its revenue from sales of ad space and ad technology, said profits tripled in the second quarter from a year earlier to 9.9 billion U.S. dollars while revenues increased 19 percent to 38.9 billion U.S. dollars.

Helping shares was an announcement that the company would spend an additional 25 billion U.S. dollars on stock buybacks.

Profits were sharply higher than the same period last year when Google was forced to pay a five billion U.S. dollars fine to settle antitrust actions in the European Union.

The strong results come with Google expected to face tough scrutiny in the United States, where antitrust regulators have begun a review on online platforms over competition concerns.

Ads and more ads

Google's digital ad revenues rose 16 percent from a year ago and accounted for 32 billion U.S. dollars of the company's revenues.

Google is the dominant player in internet search and as a result holds an estimated 31 percent share of digital advertising, according to the research firm eMarketer.

Its power has attracted scrutiny from antitrust regulators in Europe and more recently in the United States, where officials have said "major online platforms" would be reviewed for possible impacts on competition.

Google has denied abusing its market position but has been seeking to diversify its revenue base with more hardware offerings including smartphones and digital assistants.

(With input from AFP, Reuters)