https://medium.com/insider-analysis/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-about-googles-5-billion-antitrust-fine-34ef104ac989

New gadgets and the promise of AI have helped to successfully rebrand Google’s search and advertising business, however, it’s important to remember that Alphabet is still an old-fashioned advertising company with nearly 90% of Q1 2018 revenue, or $26.6 billion, coming from advertising and only 15%, or $4.6 billion, coming from these other ambitions.

Therefore, understanding the nuances of advertising especially as it relates to data collection is going to be key for Alphabet investors. Unfortunately, top-rated analysts struggle to understand Alphabet’s business model and CEO Sundar Pichai did not offer any answers. In the Q1 2018 earnings call, Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets asked if the “GDPR or other regulation is likely to impact materially the targeting capabilities that advertisers have on Google?” The CEO replied: