Overcoming a tough economic climate, Google has reported a 7pc increase in third-quarter revenues of US$5.94 billion, prompting a confident Eric Schmidt to say the worst of the recession is behind the company and that he plans to invest heavily in the company’s future.
“Google had a strong quarter – we saw 7pc year-over-year revenue growth despite the tough economic conditions,” said Schmidt, CEO of Google.
“While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now and feel confident about investing heavily in our future,” Schmidt said.
Operating income in the third quarter of 2009 was US$2.07 billion, or 35pc of revenues. This compares to US$1.65 billion, or 30pc of revenues, in the third quarter of 2008
Q3 net income
Google’s net income in the third quarter of 2009 was US$1.64 billion, compared to US$1.29 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Earnings per share in the third quarter of 2009 was US$5.13 on 320 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to US$4.06 last year.
Google-owned sites generated revenues of US$3.96 billion, or 67pc of total revenues, up 8pc on last year.
Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of US$1.80 billion, or 30pc of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2009 – up 7pc on last year.
Revenues from outside America
Revenues from outside of US totalled US$3.14 billion, representing 53pc compared to 51pc last year.
Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of Google’s AdSense partners, increased 14pc on last year.
Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of AdSense partners fell by 6pc compared to last year.
In the third quarter of 2009, traffic acquisition costs (TAC) totalled US$1.56bn, or 27pc of advertising revenues.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google.
