Google posts first quarter revenue jump
GOOGLE’S first-quarter profit jumped 37 per cent as the Internet search giant’s revenue rose 23 per cent, highlighting how the online-advertising market continues to rebound.
Google’s chief financial officer Patrick Pichette said the company performed well in the first quarter, with year-on-year sales growth driven by strength across all major verticals and geographies.
Google generated $3.58bn (£2.31bn) in sales outside of its US operations, representing 53 per cent of the group’s overall income, while revenues from the UK represented 13 per cent of its overall income and came to $842m.
Meanwhile, sites owned by Google also saw a boost in revenues to $4.44bn, marking a 20 per cent climb from last year when the site revenues came in at $3.69bn.
Partner sites generated $2.04bn in revenue, putting them 24 per cent ahead of the same period last year and taking a 30 per cent chunk of Google’s overall revenue. Partner sites operate through the AdSense programme.
The number of paid clicks, including AdSense sites and clicks related to ads served on Google sites, were up by 15 per cent, while the average cost per click climbed by seven per cent.
Google upped its global headcount during the first quarter of the year to 20,621 full-time employees, up from the 19,835 full-time staff it employed as of 31 December 2009.
“Every time I can find another great engineer we are going to hire them; Google needs them,” Pichette said. Google is bringing in new talent through buying IT firms as well as by hiring, according to executives.