Google’s reported fourth quarter revenues are $14.42 billion, up by 36 percent over the same quarter last year, bringing Google’s annual revenues to more than $50 billion for the first time.
Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the company saw net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion last year. The results exceed analysts’ expectations, with a recent poll by Reuters revealing an average forecast of $9.6 billion.
“We ended 2012 with a strong quarter. Revenues were up 36 percent year-on-year, and eight percent quarter-on-quarter. And we hit $50 billion in revenues for the first time last year – not a bad achievement in just a decade and a half,” says CEO Larry Page.
“In today’s multiscreen world, we face tremendous opportunities as a technology company focused on user benefit. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be at Google.”
On the advertising front, cost-per-click was up 2 percent on the previous quarter, but down 6 percent on the previous year. The fall is related largely to the fact that many consumers are moving to mobile devices for search, where Google’s ad rates are lower.
Aggregate paid clicks, which cover clicks related to ads served on Google sites and on the sites of partners, were up by 24 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, and up nine percent over the third quarter of 2012.
Overall, advertising revenue was up by 19 percent, compared with a rise of 25 percent a year ago. The company’s own sites accounted for two-thirds of this, generating revenues of $8.64 billion for the quarter. Partner sites brought in $3.44 billion, up 19 percent on a year ago…
Read More: tgdaily.com
