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  3. A day after lawmakers grilled the chief executives of the biggest tech companies about their size and power, Amazon, Apple, Alph

A day after lawmakers grilled the chief executives of the biggest tech companies about their size and power, Amazon, Apple, Alph

admin2022-11-01  51
问题     A day after lawmakers grilled the chief executives of the biggest tech companies about their size and power, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Facebook reported surprisingly healthy quarterly financial results, defying one of the worst economic downturns on record. Even though the companies felt some sting from the spending slowdown, they demonstrated, as critics have argued, that they are operating on a different playing field from the rest of the economy.
    Amazon’s sales were up 40 percent from a year ago and its profit doubled. Facebook’s profit jumped 98 percent. Even though the pandemic shuttered many of its stores, Apple increased sales of all its products in every part of the world and posted $11.25 billion in profit. Advertising revenue dropped for Alphabet, the laggard of the bunch, but it still did better than Wall Street had expected. "The strong continue to get stronger," said Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities. "As many companies are falling by the wayside, the tech giants continue to gain muscle and power in this environment." The tech companies’ financial performance was a remarkable contrast to
    the overall health of the U.S. economy. The Commerce Department said on Thursday that the country’s gross domestic product fell 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the year as consumers cut back spending. It was the steepest drop on record.
    Combined, the companies reported $28.6 billion in quarterly net profit, underscoring how regulatory scrutiny remains more background noise and a distraction for them rather than an imminent threat to their businesses. The pandemic has reinforced the advantages held by the big tech companies.
    As consumers stay home, demand for Amazon’s shopping site surged, while companies are turning to its cloud computing products to keep their services up and running. Apple said the shift to working and learning from home had led more people to splurge on Apple’s devices and use its services. Facebook and Google continue to be important to marketers and they are weathering the downturn in advertising better than rivals. Facebook shrugged off a spending slowdown, hailing record levels of engagement with its products. Alphabet said revenue from Google search ads fell 10 percent—pushing the company’s overall revenue lower for the first time in the company’s history—but that still was better than rivals. Last week, Microsoft reported an 18 percent slide in search advertising revenue.
    Since the beginning of March, the companies’ stock prices have risen by an average of 35 percent, compared with a 10 percent rise in the S.&P. 500.
To the four tech giants, the regulatory scrutiny__________.
选项 A、has taken a heavy toll on their business
B、has brought about a trivial effect
C、has caused the breakup of them
D、has stimulated an increase in net profit
答案 B
解析 通过题干关键词the regulatory scrutiny定位至第三段。该段说明了监管审查对这几家科技巨头的影响：“这几家公司公布的季度净利润合计为286亿美元，突显出监管审查对他们来说仍只是无关紧要的背景噪音和干扰，并不会对他们的业务构成紧迫的威胁。”(Combined，the companies reported $28．6 billion in quarterly net profit，underscoring how regulatory scrutiny remains more background noise and a distraction for them rather than an imminent threat to their businesses．)由此可知，监管审查对他们的影响微乎其微，选项[B]与此相符合，故为答案。
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