Google's Profit Rises 16% - Wall Street Journal

By BEN FOX RUBIN Google Inc.'s first-quarter profit improved 16% as the search giant saw strong revenue growth in its core advertising business. Google has been challenged by concerns over the slowing revenue growth from ads on its Web-search engine, YouTube video site and other properties. More people are using their smartphones to search the Web, and advertisers have ramped up mobile ads, which marketers say often cost less than half as much as search ads viewed on desktop computers. Now Reporting Track the performances of 150 companies as they report and compare their results with analysts' estimates. Sort by date and industry. More photos and interactive graphics Google said its rate of paid clicks, or the number of times users clicked on search ads, rose 20% from a year earlier. Meanwhile the prices paid for those clicks was down about 4%. Total advertising revenue—by far the company's largest revenue engine—improved 16%. Late last year, Google agreed to sell Motorola Mobility's set-top box business to communications technology company Arris Group Inc. in a deal valued at $2.35 billion. The deal was expected to close this month. Google posted a quarterly profit of $3.35 billion, or $9.94 a share, up from $2.89 billion, or $8.75 a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, profit rose to $11.58 from $10.08 a share. Total revenue rose 31% to $13.97 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $10.66 a share and revenue of $14.31 billion. Shares closed Thursday at $765.91 and were up 2.5% after hours. Through the close, the stock was up 8.3% so far this year. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEmOv8mHjMK59lgo6t7WkEYUi73vg&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323809304578431102738122718.html

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2598265