Google keeps its one-trick pony healthy
Google gets knocked for being a one-trick pony--the vast majority of its revenue comes from search advertising--but its strong fourth-quarter results showed what can be done by making sure cultivation of that business isn't hurt by diversification efforts.
The company on Thursday reported net income of $382 million for the quarter, a major drop from $1.21 billion from the year-earlier quarter. But that apparent drop was mostly because of two non-cash charges writing down the value of investments in AOL and Clearwire by $726 million and $355 million, respectively. Factoring that and some other charges out, the company had net income of $1.62 billion, well over analyst expectations, with revenue excluding commissions rising 4.5 percent to $4.22 billion.
Wait a minute. Wasn't there supposed to be a recession happening or something? How did Google do well, if not actually knock the ball out of the park?
Google CEO Eric Schmidt(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)
