Google surges on Q4 earnings
January 31, 2014Google shares surged nearly 4 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday as the US technology giant reported rising revenue and profit in the fourth quarter of 2013.
In the final three months of 2013, revenue climbed to $16.9 billion (12.4 billion euros), up 17 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, Google announced Thursday. Quarterly profit climbed to $3.38 billion, it added.
“We ended 2013 with another great quarter of momentum and growth,” Google Chief Executive Larry Page said in the earnings release.
Google executives also said the company benefited from strong demand from brand marketers and retailers, as well as healthy demand for online ads in international markets.
In the quarter, paid clicks on the firm's online ads jumped 31 percent, the report said. However, the average price per click slid 11 percent, it added.
The report came one day after Google announced the sale of its loss-making Motorola mobile phone business to Chinese computer maker Lenovo. The deal was worth $2.91billion, which was widely off the $12.4 billion it paid for the company in 2012.
In its earnings report, Google also said that it had cash and securities worth $58.7 billion on hand.
uhe/ph (dpa, Reuters, AFP)