The worldwide technology industry might still be struggling under the impact of the recent economic downturn, but you’d never know it at Google. The company has just posted its third quarter financial results, showing a 32 percent increase in net income compared to the same quarter a year ago—and that figure would have been even higher if the company hadn’t blown through a bunch of money acquiring new companies and hiring new employees. Overall, Google posted $7.29 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2010, a 23 percent increase on 2009’s third quarter total of $5.94 billion.
“Google had an excellent quarter,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in a statement. “Our core business grew very well, and our newer businesses—particularly display and mobile—continued to show significant momentum. Going forward, we remain committed to aggressive investment in both our people and our products as we pursue an innovation agenda.”
Google hasn’t previously broken down how different areas of its business contribute to its income, but in an unusual move Google revealed its display advertising business accounted for almost 10 percent of the company’s revenue for the quarter, and mobile advertising accounted for near 4 percent. Google may have revealed those figures as justification for some of their larger acquisitions: Google spent over $3 billion to acquire DoubleClick in 2008, and some $750 million to acquire Admob earlier this year.
Google’s acquisition habit have had an impact on its stock price, as some investor wish Google would spent more time on maximizing revenue rather than acquiring other businesses or investing in R&D. Google has brought approximately 3,500 employees on board so far during 2010. However, for the time being, Google can afford it: the company currently has over $33 billion in cash on hand.
Another interesting breakdown: revenue from Google-owned sites represented just over two thirds of Google’s overall revenue—the remainder being from Google’s partner sites. However, revenues from outside the United States accounted for 52 percent of Google’s total revenues for the quarter.
