$10 billion revenues, rising profits and headcount.. what recession?! Google announced stellar financial results to September 30, yesterday.Google reported revenues of US$9.72 billion for the quarter ended September 30, or Q3, an increase of 33% compared to Q3 2010. <\/p>\n
Profits for the quarter at the search giant also rose to a phenomenal $2.73 billion and topped estimates by Wall Street analysts. <\/p>\n
Net income also surged 26% to $2.73bn – a jump from from $2.17bn compared to the same period a year ago. <\/p>\n
Google-owned sites generated revenues of $6.74bn, or 69% of total revenues, a 39% increase over last year, while ‘partner sites’ generated revenues, of $2.6 bn, or 27% of total, through AdSense programs.<\/p>\n
However, traffic acquisition costs (TAC) the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, rose to $2.21bn and the Internet powerhouse indicted it intends keeping capital spending up meaning more mergers and acqusitions are on the way.<\/p>\n
“We had a great quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. <\/p>\n
“Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of $10 billion. Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started!” <\/p>\n
Headcount also rose – 31,353 full-time employees – up from 28,768 in June.<\/p>\n
Revenues from outside of the US totalled $5.3 bn, or 55% of the total figure, an increase of 1% compared to the previous quarter and 3% gain on the same period in 2010. Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $1.05 billion, or 11% of total. <\/p>\n
However, it is not all roses for Page, with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said to be conducting a major investigation into how Google are channelling profits through international subsidiaries, in particular Holland and Ireland, according to Bloomberg. <\/p>\n
These accounting practices known as ”Dutch sandwich” and ‘Double Irish” are regular practices for US companies to avioud paying corporation tax. <\/p>\n
Google Ireland, as a European HQ, is a major employer in the country and currently recruiting staff at its Dublin subsidary and has just a 12.5% tax rate, compared to Australia’s 30%. <\/p>\n