Google reports higher second-quarter revenue and profits
BRANDON BAILEY
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google turned in a strong second-quarter earnings performance that beat Wall Street expectations Thursday, as profit rose 11 percent and revenue increased by 39 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Google said it earned $2.79 billion profit on revenue of $9.61 billion, after subtracting ad commissions paid to business partners. That amounted to earnings of $8.42 a share or $10.12 a share excluding one-time expenses.
The company’s sales figures included revenue from its newly acquired Motorola Mobility business. Without that revenue, Google still reported $8.36 billion in sales or an increase of 21 percent from the same period a year ago.
“Google standalone had a strong quarter,” said CEO Larry Page in a written statement issued by the company. He added, “we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users” through the new Motorola divisions.
Wall Street was expecting Google to report earnings of $8.76 a share, or $10.05 a share excluding one-time expenses, on revenue of $8.41 billion after subtracting ad commissions paid to business partners, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
Analysts were anticipating healthy results from Google overall, despite the sluggish U.S. economy and continued financial upheaval in Europe.
Google dominates the market for Internet search ads, which appear alongside results produced by Google’s search engine. The market research firm comScore estimated U.S. Internet users used Google for 66.8 percent of all searches in June.
The company also is increasing its share of the market for online display ads, which appear on websites operated by Google and a variety of business partners, according to a report this month by Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schachter.
Yahoo, which competes with Google in the online ad market, reported lower than expected revenue when it disclosed its earnings on Tuesday. Another online rival, Facebook, will report earnings next week for the first time since its initial stock offering.
While advertising still provides most of Google’s revenue, the company is pushing into the consumer electronics sector through the Motorola deal and other initiatives.
