Google 1Q Net Up 8.9% On Higher Rev, U.S. Paid Clicks

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Google Inc.'s (GOOG) first-quarter net income rose 8.9% on higher revenue and U.S. paid clicks for Internet searches.

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the results underline the "resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the Web as users and advertisers shift online."

Shares rose 5% after-hours to $408.22 as earnings results topped Wall Street's estimates.

The search-engine giant has been more resilient to the economic downturn than many other technology companies. Still, Google has pared down hiring recently, eliminated nearly 300 jobs in two rounds of its first-ever job cuts and trimmed other company perks to cut costs.

Google reported net income of $1.42 billion, or $4.49 a share, up from $1.31 billion, or $4.12 a share, a year ago.

In the quarter, Google recorded stock compensation charges of $277 million, which was slightly offset by a $64 million tax benefit related to stock-based compensation. Earlier this year, the company warned it would record stock compensation charges throughout 2009 as it repriced previously issued options.

Excluding the items, earnings were $5.16 a share.

Revenue rose 6.2% to $5.51 billion from a year earlier and fell 3% from the fourth quarter. Traffic-acquisition costs, or commissions paid to marketing partners, totaled $1.44 billion, or 27% of advertising revenue.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share earnings of $4.93 on revenue of $4.09 billion, excluding traffic-acquisition costs.

Google's U.S. paid clicks - a measure of how frequently consumers clicked on its ads - grew 17% in the first quarter from a year earlier and rose 3% from the fourth quarter.