The COVID-19 pandemic has been a devastating blow for the global economy. Within a few days, the pandemic pushed the entire world to the edge of a recession, severe than the 2008 crisis. With businesses shutting down, millions of people losing their jobs, this recession can leave scars that last longer even when growth resumes.ย

Monzo’s annual loss doubled
Recently, the UK digital bank Monzo announced that its annual losses more than doubled from ยฃ47.2 million to ยฃ113.8 million amid its hiring spree, marketing, and US expansion.ย
On top of that, reportedly the company has said instability created by COVID-19 pandemic โcast significant doubtโ on its ability to continue. Later, the directors clarified โwe are confident in Monzoโs ability to execute its business plan and raise capital if necessaryโ.
Spectacular boom during the worst months of pandemic
While the coronavirus is choking the global economy, the tech giants from Silicon Valley including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google reported a spectacular boom during the worst months of the pandemic. This result came a day after lawmakers grilled the chief executives – Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and Sundar Pichai (Alphabet) about their market power and business practices.
Even during the COVID-19 outbreak, the tech companies’ financial performance was remarkable – Facebook’s profit increased by 98%, Amazon sales grew 40%, Apple posted $11.25 billion (approx โฌ9.55 billion) in profit, and the Alphabet performed better than what Wall Street expected. All four companies, combined, reported $28.6 billion (approx โฌ24.2 billion) in quarterly net profit. Let’s have a look at the Q2 results of the Silicon Valley giants individually.ย
Amazon
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon surpassed Wall Street estimates with $88.9 billion (approx โฌ75.5 billion) sales last quarter, 40% growth from last year. Furthermore, the profit doubled to $5.2 billion (approx โฌ4.4 billion) even while the company invested in warehouse expansion and coronavirus-related expenses. The growth of Amazon’s cloud service (grew 29% to $10.8 billion) fell short of analyst expectations.
Facebook’s second-quarter revenue grew 11% to $18.7 billion (approx โฌ16 billion) from last year, with 89% profit to $5.2 billion (approx โฌ4.4 billion). The result was way above analysts’ estimate of $17.3 billion (approx โฌ14.6 billion) in revenue with a profit of $3.9 billion (approx โฌ3.3 billion). According to the company, the number of monthly active users swelled by 12% with huge engagement levels.ย
Apple
Despite the economic slowdown, people didn’t stop buying Apple’s devices or subscriptions. It seems the iPads and Macs sales were stronger, thanks to work from culture. According to the Cupertino giant, sales increased 11% to $59.7 billion (approx โฌ50.7 billion) with a 12% increase in profit to $11.25 billion (approx โฌ9.55 billion).ย
Alphabet
Alphabet, Google’s parent company witnessed its first decline as advertisement revenue growth slowed down. The company posted revenue of $38.3 billion (approx โฌ32.5 billion) and a profit of $6.96 billion (approx โฌ5.91 billion), which is significantly higher than Wall Street analyst prediction. However, according to Ruth Porat, Alphabetโs chief financial officer, the advertising revenue gradually improved as the quarter went on.
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