Google's the search boss (Was there any doubt?)

Google's the search boss (Was there any doubt?)

Internet giant Google Inc. has reported another blockbuster search advertising quarterly profits even as rivals struggle to keep up. The Mountain View, California-based Google reported a massive 77 percent jump in second quarter revenues as compared to those reported in 2005.

In posting record profits, Google surpassed Wall Street expectations for the seventh time in eight quarters. Google reported profits of $721.1 million, or $2.33 per share in the three months ending June. The corresponding income at the same time last year was $342.8 million, or $1.19 per share. Google said it would have earned $2.49 per share, if employee stock compensation expenses and other one-off items had been deducted. The earnings are way above the $2.22 a share predicted by 32 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Revenues for the three months were $2.46 billion, up by 77 percent over last year's from $1.38 billion. "It looks like our model continues to work very well," Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said “We did really, really well in a quarter that is seasonally slow. Big companies as they get larger seem to slow down. We continue to innovate.” Google's revenue after deducting commissions paid to advertising partners was $1.67 billion, up 88 percent. This was considerably more than the $1.65 billion that analysts expected.

Mr Schmidt told reporters in a conference call that Google wanted to offer advertising to mobile phones as well. That model is already in place in Japan. "Our strong performance results from our clear focus on increasing the quality of user experience, particularly in search and ads," he added. The company employed 1,152 employees in the second quarter taking the total number to 7,942 employees on June 30.

According to comScore Media Metrix Google continues to head the search stakes with 44.7 percent share of the U.S. search-engine market, followed by Yahoo at 28.5 percent.