AT&T vs Google: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
AT&T reported $125.6B of revenue in FY2025 and $22B of net income. Google reported $402.8B of revenue in FY2025 and $132.2B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
AT&T
AT&T's financial story is large revenue, large debt and a slow correction. The company funded the $48.5 billion DirecTV purchase in 2015 and the $85.4 billion Time Warner purchase in 2018 largely with borrowing, and net debt passed $180 billion after Time Warner closed. It then reversed course: WarnerMedia was separated in 2022, the dividend was cut, and the remaining 70% DIRECTV stake went to TPG in July 2025 for a $5.6 billion gain. FY2025 revenue was $125.6 billion, with $23.4 billion of total net income, $46.4 billion of adjusted EBITDA and $16.6 billion of free cash flow against $117.4 billion of net debt. Roughly $22 billion a year of capital investment goes mostly into fiber and 5G.
Alphabet's FY2025 Form 10-K reported $402.836 billion of revenue and $132.170 billion of net income, making it one of the most profitable companies in the world. Growth accelerated in 2026: Q2 2026 revenue rose 24% year over year to $119.8 billion, operating income rose 30% to $40.8 billion and operating margin reached 34.0%. Reported Q2 net income of $112.1 billion was inflated by a $99.0 billion gain, mostly unrealized gains on equity holdings, so operating income is the cleaner measure. The trade-off is spending: management raised 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $195-205 billion, and analysts flagged negative free cash flow in Q2 2026 as data-center investment outpaced operating cash flow.
Revenue and profit by year
AT&T
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $125.6B | $22B | 17.5% | +2.7% | Source |
| FY2024 | $122.3B | $10.9B | 8.9% | -0.1% | Source |
| FY2023 | $122.4B | $14.4B | 11.8% | +1.4% | Source |
| FY2022 | $120.7B | -$8.5B | -7.1% | -9.9% | Source |
| FY2021 | $134B | $20.1B | 15.0% | -6.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | $143.1B | -$5.2B | -3.6% | -21.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $181.2B | $13.9B | 7.7% | +6.1% | Source |
| FY2018 | $170.8B | $19.4B | 11.3% | +6.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $160.5B | $29.4B | 18.3% | -2.0% | Source |
| FY2016 | $163.8B | $13B | 7.9% | — | Source |
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $402.8B | $132.2B | 32.8% | +15.1% | Source |
| FY2024 | $350B | $100.1B | 28.6% | +13.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $307.4B | $73.8B | 24.0% | +8.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $282.8B | $60B | 21.2% | +9.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $257.6B | $76B | 29.5% | +41.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $182.5B | $40.3B | 22.1% | +12.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | $161.9B | $34.3B | 21.2% | +18.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $136.8B | $30.7B | 22.5% | +23.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $110.9B | $12.7B | 11.4% | +22.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $90.3B | $19.5B | 21.6% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
AT&T
- Mobility~71%
Wireless service plans and device sales. Segment revenue was $89.5 billion in 2025, of which $67.4 billion was service revenue and $22.1 billion equipment.
- Business Wireline~14%
Connectivity for businesses, from fiber and dedicated internet to legacy voice and data. Revenue fell to $17.2 billion in 2025 from $18.8 billion in 2024.
- Consumer Wireline~11%
Home broadband, led by AT&T Fiber and AT&T Internet Air. Revenue was $14.2 billion in 2025, with fiber revenue up 17.0% to $8.6 billion.
- Latin America~3%
Wireless service in Mexico. Revenue was $4.4 billion in 2025, up from $4.2 billion, with $145 million of operating income.
- Google Search advertising~12%
Auction-based text and shopping ads served alongside organic search results, generating approximately $198 billion in FY2024 through cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing.
- YouTube advertising~12%
Video advertising across pre-roll, mid-roll, display, and Shorts formats, plus subscription revenue from YouTube Premium, Music, and YouTube TV, totaling approximately $36 billion in ad revenue for FY2024.
- Google Cloud~12%
Infrastructure-as-a-service, platform tools, Vertex AI, BigQuery, Mandiant cybersecurity, and Google Workspace subscriptions, generating significant FY2025 revenue.
- Google Network~12%
Ads placed on third-party websites through AdSense, AdMob, and Google Ad Manager, generating approximately $31 billion in FY2024 with revenue shared with publishers.
- Other Bets~12%
Revenue from Waymo autonomous ride-hailing, Verily health technology, hardware sales (Pixel, Nest, Fitbit), Google Play commissions, and other non-advertising sources.
Business model and strategy
AT&T
How it makes money
AT&T runs a capital-intensive network business. It buys licensed wireless spectrum, builds and upgrades cell sites, and trenches fiber, then charges consumers and businesses a monthly fee to use that network. Capital investment was $22.0 billion in 2025 against $125.6 billion of revenue.
Growth strategy
With the US smartphone market saturated, AT&T's growth depends on home internet and on keeping the wireless customers it has. It is building fiber, which passed 32.0 million consumer and business locations at the end of 2025 and carried 10.4 million subscribers, and it sells AT&T Internet Air fixed wireless where fiber is not available.
Competitive advantage
AT&T's advantage is the cost of replicating what it already owns. Its fiber network passed 32.0 million consumer and business locations at the end of 2025, and its mid-band 5G service covers more than 310 million people. Keeping that going took $22.0 billion of capital investment in 2025 alone, which is why the national market has three carriers rather than thirty.
How it makes money
Alphabet makes money mainly by selling ads against user intent and attention. Google Search & other, YouTube ads and the Google Network together account for roughly three quarters of revenue. Advertisers bid in real-time auctions to appear next to queries or videos, and Google charges per click, view or conversion.
Growth strategy
Alphabet's growth plan has four parts: put Gemini into Search (AI Overviews and AI Mode), Workspace, Android and Chrome to keep users and advertisers engaged; sell AI infrastructure, TPUs and Gemini models through Google Cloud, backed by the Wiz security platform acquired in March 2026; grow subscriptions such as YouTube Premium, YouTube TV and Google One AI plans;
Competitive advantage
Alphabet's edge is a stack few rivals own end to end: default distribution through Android and Chrome, the largest pool of search-intent data, YouTube's video audience, its own TPU chips and global data centers, and frontier models from Google DeepMind.
Questions about AT&T vs Google
Which company has higher revenue — AT&T Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
AT&T Inc. reported $125.6B (FY2025), while Alphabet Inc. reported $402.8B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Alphabet Inc. is the larger business, with AT&T Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of AT&T Inc. vs Alphabet Inc.?
AT&T Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $174.4B, while Alphabet Inc.'s is $4.31T. Alphabet Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to AT&T Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — AT&T Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
AT&T Inc. generates $945k / employee in revenue per employee, while Alphabet Inc. generates $2.11M / employee. Alphabet Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do AT&T Inc. and Alphabet Inc. make money?
AT&T Inc. and Alphabet Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. AT&T Inc.: AT&T runs a capital-intensive network business. Alphabet Inc.: Alphabet makes money mainly by selling ads against user intent and attention.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — AT&T Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, AT&T Inc. trades at 1.4x P/S and Alphabet Inc. at 10.7x P/S. Alphabet Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to AT&T Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is AT&T Inc. bigger than Alphabet Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Alphabet Inc. ($402.8B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to AT&T Inc. ($125.6B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the AT&T vs Google overview