MAM
GoaFest announces Creative Abbys & shortlist online
MUMBAI: The Awards Governing Council (AGC) of Abbys at Goafest 2014 has announced the team of jury chairpersons for the Creative Abbys.
The jury chairperson for the Integrated Advertising category is McCann World Group president, south Asia, Prasoon Joshi. The film category will be chaired by it Taproot chairman and chief creative officer Agnello Dias. Alok Nanda communications director Alok Nanda will chair the design category.
For Outdoor Advertising and Ambient DDB Mudra Group, India chairman and chief creative officer, Sonal Dabral will be the jury chair and for Radio Advertising it will be Contract Advertising National Creative Director, Ashish Chakravarty.
Commenting on the jury, chairman of the Awards Governing Council, Pratap Bose, said “We are delighted to have such a remarkable line-up of jury chairpersons this year. All of them are creative stalwarts and I am pleased that they will be judging the Creative Abbys this year. The judging process will be transparent and fair. KPMG will be monitoring the judging procedure.”
This year more than 3,000 entries were received. Shortlists for Goafest 2014 are being displayed at www.abbyshortlist.com.
If any, then issues related to shortlisted entries can be brought to the attention of jury chairperson in writing. The matter with proof submitted will be tabled in the second round for the jury to make a final call on. Metals awarded by the jury after the second round of judging will be final.
Goafest 2014 will be held at The Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, North Goa on 29–31 May 2014.
Brands
Alphabet Q1 profit jumps 81 per cent as revenue climbs to $109.9 billion
AI-led growth fuels strong gains across Search, Cloud and YouTube
CALIFORNIA: Alphabet Inc. kicked off 2026 with a strong first quarter, reporting an 81 per cent surge in net income to $62.58 billion, powered by robust growth across its core businesses and a sharp acceleration in cloud and AI-driven services.
Revenue rose 22 per cent year-on-year to $109.9 billion, or 19 per cent in constant currency, marking the company’s 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Operating income increased 30 per cent to $39.7 billion, while operating margin expanded to 36.1 per cent from 34 per cent a year earlier.
Diluted earnings per share climbed 82 per cent to $5.11, reflecting both operational strength and a significant boost from other income, which stood at $37.7 billion, largely driven by unrealised gains on equity investments.
Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai said, “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.”
The company’s core Google Services segment generated $89.6 billion in revenue, up 16 per cent year-on-year. Growth was led by a 19 per cent increase in Search and other revenues to $60.4 billion, a 19 per cent rise in subscriptions, platforms and devices to $12.38 billion, and an 11 per cent growth in YouTube ads to $9.88 billion.
Cloud emerged as the standout performer. Google Cloud Platform revenues jumped 63 per cent to $20.03 billion, with operating income rising sharply to $6.6 billion from $2.18 billion a year earlier. The growth was driven by enterprise demand for AI infrastructure and solutions.
Pichai highlighted strong traction in AI, noting that the company’s Gemini models are now processing more than 16 billion tokens per minute, up 60 per cent from the previous quarter. Paid subscriptions across services reached 350 million, while Gemini Enterprise saw a 40 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise in paid monthly active users.
The company also reported that Waymo has crossed 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week, signalling growing momentum in its Other Bets segment, though the unit continued to post a loss of $2.1 billion.
Total costs and expenses increased to $70.2 billion, reflecting higher investments in research, AI infrastructure and talent. Headcount rose to 194,668 employees, up from 185,719 a year earlier.
Alphabet also strengthened its capital strategy, issuing $31.1 billion in senior unsecured notes during the quarter and announcing a 5 per cent increase in its dividend to $0.22 per share, payable in June 2026.
With AI at the centre of its growth engine and cloud demand surging, Alphabet appears to be scaling both innovation and profitability. As its core businesses remain resilient and newer bets gain traction, the company is positioning itself strongly for the next phase of digital and AI-led expansion.
