Google’s new spending surge shows a company that is playing catch-up

San Francisco: Alphabet Inc.’s first-quarter results came with a clear message to Wall Street: The company is embarking on a new spending binge to chase its biggest rivals. Google’s parent posted the strongest sales growth in almost four years on Monday, indicating marketers kept flocking to its services amid rising scrutiny of digital ads. Chief executive officer Sundar Pichai told investors that Google’s nascent hardware unit, which builds smartphones and speakers rivaling Amazon and Apple, is two to three years from “the scale that we want to see". Google’s higher spending in the first quarter shaved operating profit margins to 22% from 27% a year earlier.