this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. searching for answers. google‘s parent company, alphabet, comfortably beats wall street expectations. we find out why its shares are down after such stellar results. happy lunar new year! we look at what the year of pig holds for the chinese economy and who will benefit. and on the markets many are closed today in asia for a public holiday — japan and australia among the few trading. google‘s parent company alphabet has posted strong revenues just days after facebook‘s record profits. but even though the results beat wall street expectations, shares in the company fell 3 percent in after hours trade — so lets talk you through the numbers. full year revenues at the search engine giantjumped 23% to just

under $137 billion as advertisers increased their spending to reach consumers online. of that almost 31 billion was pre—tax profits. looking at google‘s ad—sales they rose 20% to $32.6 billion in the 4th quarter. as with facebook ads, google‘s are narrowly targeted because it collects so much data on users. and that's got alphabet into trouble in europe, with google fined $57 million in france last month, for failing to disclose to users how their data is collected across its services. it's the largest penalty to date under eu privacy law known as general data protection regulation. but it wasn't that that spooked investors, it was that the bumper profits comes

with higher spending as the company adds data centers, cloud engineers and increase marketing. peter zillig, ceo of digital marketing & advertising agency cheiljoins me now. such big numbers when you look at the figures. give us a sense of how google is making such big money, alphabets, should i say. they continue to power through despite the privacy concerns, despite the data harvesting concerns, they continue to do very, very well. i think it is clear that google and facebook still remained the dominant suppliers in that field because they provide so much a reach and a scale, they have so much data at their fingertips and therefore the ex——— advertising is extremely targeted.

the big advertisers, facebook and google remained the big advertisers. it isa google remained the big advertisers. it is a duopoly. that is something that many in the industry have said to me for a few years now. how will that be changed, if at all, if we are looking at the duopoly in a global market, a big market worth billions and billions. will regulators get involved from that point of view? they may do. the big chatis point of view? they may do. the big chat is that amazon is making inroads and if you look at some of the investments that google has made and obviously investments that make investors were a bit spooked by that capital expenditure interest, there is an interest in youtube in terms of producing their own content, looking at a subscription model and they are paying a lot more to apple to remain the default search engine for apple. they are trying to shore

up for apple. they are trying to shore up the business and protect their position because they think they can see the likes of amazon potentially over time getting some inroads. so it is increasing by a big amount. one thingi it is increasing by a big amount. one thing i found it is increasing by a big amount. one thing ifound interesting is youtube which is owned by alphabet is less profitable than the original google desktop search service. i must admit, whenever i dip into youtube, i feel like i must admit, whenever i dip into youtube, ifeel like i am must admit, whenever i dip into youtube, i feel like i am seeing ads all the time, whether i like it or not. i find it all the time, whether i like it or not. ifind it interesting. all the time, whether i like it or not. i find it interesting. that is about getting the balance right in terms of the content. and the advertising. and how interrupting that is. i think getting the better balance varies important for them but as i said earlier, the subscription model they are looking at in the youtube space is something that will generate more income for judd —— that youtube over time. that will generate more income for judd -- that youtube over time. we will leave it there. more on google on our website. take a look at that if you would like more details. now

let's talk about angela merkel. germany's chancellor angela merkel has spent her second day injapan meeting with prime minister shinzo abe. between brexit and the ongoing us—china trade war, the two countries are strengthening their economic ties. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story. so, rico, what have they been doing today? you are at work where most people you are are enjoying the holidays? it is happy lunar new year in asia that japan is working and the nikkei is trading. what is important right now is the meeting between shinzo abe and angela merkel. they are on the second day of the summit and they both agree that they want to head off a no—deal brexit that could rattle their respective economies. both leaders are the most outspoken defenders of the international order being shaken by brexit and the us— china trade war. their two—day

summit in tokyo explains days after japan and european trade union agreement came into effect, removing essentially all of the tariffs. she and so are they stressed that a no—deal brexit should be avoided and wa nts no—deal brexit should be avoided and wants the effect onjapanese companies and the economy to be kept ata minimum. companies and the economy to be kept at a minimum. as for angela merkel, she said she would do what she can to avoid disruptive brexit. she brought topics from different companies including siemens and bayer. she was also meeting emperor peek ito and his son. —— akihito. she soundly she is having a very busy agenda. happy new year. with china celebrating the lunar new year from today,

the world's second biggest economy has virtually ground to a halt, as hundreds of millions of people travel back home for the holiday. this is, of course, a temporary blip but the country is also dealing with a sluggish growth rate not seen in almost three decades. while beijing has unveiled a series steps to prevent a deeper slowdown there are doubts about how effective the stimulus will be — and who will benefit the most from it. robin brant reports from shanghai. this is where china cosmic leaders think the answer to a slowing economy lies. urged by the river that bisects shanghai, the banks. they are the key to what the government hopes can be a soft landing. president xi jinping government hopes can be a soft landing. president xijinping has described china's slowdown as a struggle so to scribe —— strives for victory, there are a slew of new measures. as victory, there are a slew of new measures. as series victory, there are a slew of new measures. as series of tax cuts to put more money in pockets, a splurge

of infrastructure spending, more than $300 billion this year. and a cut to bank reserves. they need to keep as much in the safe so they will out more for spending. but there are limits. the government a lwa ys there are limits. the government always goes to infrastructure for stimulus. infrastructure is a percentage of gdp. it is not easy to move the needle when the plate is so large. infrastructure spending, new ra i lwa ys large. infrastructure spending, new railways and bridges, is not what this man is hoping for. the banks won't be much help either because evenin won't be much help either because even ina won't be much help either because even in a stimulus, it is not private firms, tech start—ups like he is, that chinese konjuh —— the chinese commenters government hopes to stimulate. it was government money that got

this company going and they will not be any government money if things get tough in the year ahead. what this company needs to survive and maybe thrive is maybe consumers, more shoppers, that is where the tax cut comes in. china has long relied on schemes like this to boost its economy but now its leaders think this —— the consumers, notjust bridge builders, are the secret to success. the question is can the stimulus reach both? now let's brief you on some other business stories. the uk home secretary has approved the extradition of indian business tycoon vijay mallya, who faces fraud charges back home. mr mallya, whose business empire once included kingfisher beer, left india in march 2016 after defaulting on debts of more than a billion dollars. canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange has admitted that it's unable to access tens of millions of dollars worth of funds because its founder died without leaving details of his passwords. quadriga says it has not been able to locate or secure its cryptocurrency reserves since gerald cotten died in december, aged thirty.

in court documents mr cotten‘s widow said the laptop on which he carried out the companies' business was encrypted, and that she did not know the password or recovery key. slack, a messaging service used by companies across the world, is officially gearing up for a public stock listing in new york. the firm said it had filed a confidential notice with the securities and exchange commission. in one of the year's most anticipated flotations, slack could be seeking a ten billion dollar valuation. that's it for the business briefing this hour

— but before we go, here are the markets. a 41—year—old mother has been denied the right to work and access to free healthcare after she was wrongly turned away from the windrush scheme for not being from a commonwealth country. she came came to the uk from the us as a toddler and lost most of her documentation. rianna croxford reports. this is below and her two children. she has lived in the uk for more than 35 years, has been working as a teaching assistant during a routine background check last april, her employees said that she didn't have enough to live in the uk. all of my memories are from the uk. and that the bills piling up, she called the windrush helpline. they said wasn't

eligible for the windrush scheme because i didn't qualify. she contacted sajid javid last year to pick the help. i can't eat. can't sleep. everything i have now is gone. we are going to lose our house andi gone. we are going to lose our house and i can't do it any more. i cannot do this any more. and the senior lawyer assessing the compensation scheme for those affected by the windrush scandal that the home office needs to do more. clarification if the word. anybody who feels that because of changes in policy they have had life difficulties around employment, housing, accessing services, is to think of themselves as potentially qualifying the compensation and that's the message that the home office need to send loud and clear. after the bbc approached the home office, they confirmed this seems is eligible for help and are supporting her application. this is the briefing from bbc news.

the latest headlines: theresa may is travelling to northern ireland determined to find a way to deliver brexit and avoid a hard border with the irish republic. at least 7 people have been killed in a fire in an 8—storey building in paris. more than 20 others have been injured. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world: we begin with the guardian. they are reporting that the business secretary greg clark, was forced to admit the existence of a previously secret package of state aid that could have been worth £80 million had nissan gone ahead with plans to manufacture a new model x—trail car in sunderland. and leading on brexit — the i say angela merkel has given

hope that a deal can be clinched if britain and eu are "creative" and show "goodwill". the times is carrying a story about a new study that looks at how brains age and it says women‘ brains appear four years younger than men's on average, explaining why they stay sharper for longer. and still on the subject of women, the new york times reports that japanese women are disadvantaged in the workplace injapan because men do fewer hours of household chores and childcare than any other of the wealthiest nations in the world. and finally the times carries a photo of street perfomers in bangkok dressed as pigs to make the start of the chinese new year. with me is andrew tuck who's editor of monocle, a global news and business magazine. this story is dominating and has

been since last friday, the news that the sun will not be making x—trail its in the uk. —— nissan. this article looks at what was offered if they went ahead and made this car. this letter has revealed that up to £80 million was guaranteed to nissan if they made this car and stayed committed to the uk. what is fascinating, at that time, when the government was questioned, they said there was