Search »

Google Blows Away Expectations; Profit Up 69%

Google reported profits for the first quarter of 2007 of $1 billion, up 69 percent from the same period in 2006, reports The New York Times (via MarketingVox).

That profit number comes on revenue of $3.66 billion. That’s good news for investors since that translates to $3.18 a share, beating industry expectations. Despite ventures that have dominated much of Google’s press coverage, the company reiterated its focus on search and advertising, its two core businesses. Three out of every four employees are working in one of those two areas.

The higher profitability, Google’s Eric Schmidt says, is because they’re showing fewer - but higher quality - ads. The tuning of those ads to user search and other interests is a continuing emphasis for Google.

Forty-seven percent of that revenue came from international business, reports CNET. While almost all that revenue comes from paid search at this point the acquisition of DoubleClick means display ads will likely make up a significant share of revenue in the future.

Google has 40 percent of the search user market according to Nielsen/NetRating, far above Yahoo’s 12 percent and Microsoft’s nine percent. Hitwise pegs those share numbers at 64, 21 and nine percent respectively.