Profits up at Google
Google has announced a strong increase in revenues and earnings for the second quarter of this year, driven mainly by greater gains from internet advertising.
Sales stood at $3.87 billion, up 58 per cent year-on-year. Excluding shared revenue from affiliate marketing, sales came in at $2.72 billion.
Net profits reached $925 million or $2.93 per share, up 28 per cent from last year. Shares in the company have risen by nearly 20 per cent this year and are around two per cent below their all-time high at the moment.
The search engine giant failed to beat Wall Street expectations for only the second time in its 12 quarters as a publicly-listed company, however. Google said that gains in market share against its rivals were offset by costs spent on adding staff, as it braces itself for rapid growth.
Between March and the end of June, Google’s workforce increased by 13 per cent, reaching 13,786 fulltime employees, up from 12,238 staff at the end of March.
In the US, Google has a 50 per cent share of web search business - and it has a 70 per cent hold internationally, according to figures from research firm comScore.
