Google's parent Alphabet misses profit expectations as moonshot spend soars

Alphabet's expansion plans don't come cheap, with its empire set to include original YouTube series alongside Google, self-driving cars and virtual reality

Google's parent company Alphabet saw its revenue grow 17% during the first three months of this year, the company said on Thursday, but spent more money on its experimental moonshot projects, engineers, data centers and YouTube shows, causing it to miss investors' profit expectations.

Alphabet shares dropped more than 4% in the US during after-hours trading to about $724 a share.