Google Reports 30 Pct Profit Rise

The crunch might be on your street, but it’s not hitting the search giant.

Google keeps going from strength to strength and even bad economic wear can’t seem to touch it. The search giant has reported that its first-quarter profitswere up 30% on the same time last year, at $1.31 billion.   For the period ending March 31, Google reported a rise in sales of 42% to $5.19 billion, easing any worries they’d been hit bythe economic slowdown.   However, in part because of the weak dollar, the company for the first time earned more abroad than at home, with 51% of total sales from overseas.   comScore has reported that click-throughs on Google’s AdSense program had fallen significantly, with a first-quarter growth of just 1.8%, as opposed to 25% in thefourth quarter of 2007. However, Google has vastly reduced the number of ads on a page in the hope of better targeting.   Google chief Eric Schmidt credited "innovation in search, ads, andapps" for the increase in the bottom line.