Google Reports Increased Profits

typobox43 writes "According to Yahoo! News, Google has reported increased profits compared to the year-ago numbers in its first quarterly earnings report as a publicly held company. Google's revenue figures more than doubled, leaping to $805.9 million from $393.9 million. Google shares closed today at $149.38."

Comments

Good

[metlin]

Atleast, they deserve it.

But I just hope that after all this, Google does not turn into yet-another-evil-corporation. A lot of companies started out with benign ideals, only to be corrupted as they grew bigger and were taken over by selfish MBA types.

I just hope that that the Google share-holders realize that what makes Google important are not just its ideas, but also the nature of their ideas.

Kudos, Google! You guys deserve it.

Re:Good

[DigitumDei]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it the only way Google makes money is via paid ads. And the best way for them to sell those paid ads is by having tons of free applications that people WANT to use.

I think, in the industry they're in (that is search and anything they can link search to), that it really is in their best interests to NOT become yet another corporation. If they did, MS would eat them alive in no time.

Re:Good

[metlin]

I know exactly what you mean.

I'm the co-founder of a small technology startup, and it is for this very reason that we do not want to look out for VC investment.

But the unfortunate problem is that VC investment is quite inevitable, especially if you want to grow. And once VC investments come in, they would most certainly insist on an IPO, because that increases their profit margins, too.

That's a vicious circle - it's very hard for an entirely privately held company to make it big. The biggest thing that VC investments bring in is not just the money - it is the contacts and the pedigree. If you are a company in whom Vulcan or ING Barings have invested, then you must be good.

That brings in more business, and you grow. So yeah, I can pretty much relate to what you're saying!

Don't Be Evil

[MojoReisen]

Its nice to see a technology gorilla succeed while retaining their humanity, as in their ethics statement "don't be evil".
Hopefully, more businesses will follow their lead.

Re:Google Moogle

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought online advertising was dead... Who actually bothers to click those ads? And if they do they are usually tricked and don't buy anything anyway.

My brain is trained to recognise and ignore adds of all sorts. Even the big fullscreen ads you see on gaming sites I instinctivly know to look for the "continue to article" link.

And since they're a business...

[physicsphairy]

I wonder what they're going to do with the extra money?

As far as the search engine wars go, well, I think they've pretty much been declared the winner for now. It will take something very innovative and different from existing engines to have a chance at dislodging them.

So maybe that's where you see things like Gmail and Google Desktop Search coming from? Theres not a lot of room to expand in the search engine arena; not a lot they can do other than branch out into places where there's more room to innovate and expand.

Damn! I knew I should have bought some GOOG...

[fugas]

To be totally accurate, GOOG soared even higher, to 161.79, in After-Hours trading. That's a nice 14.67% increase over the previous close.

Yahoogle

[zobier]

Has anyone else noticed the similarities between this and this? Hell, it even has the 'did you mean' and calculator features!

Re:Google Moogle

[marcuspl]

People tend to be very narrow minded when it comes to making money. Google has one of the absolute largest and probably best organized set of meta data of the internet today. The internet is probably the largest collection of semi-organized information around. They also have a kick ass search engine to help you receive just the particular snippet of information you want.

This has an great value for me as an individual. For a company? Huge!

I bet you could make a fortune just explaining why google can make as much money they want. I bet google could make a fortune just selling the information of how they got to where they are today. As a company as well as the technical side of it. Which happended to be published pretty much as a tutorial some time ago if recall my readings correctly.

So, no, I don't think ads are their only source of income. If they really upped their money making intensions, which they probably will sooner or later, they could make the ads a disapearing part of their total income. Selling information, information analysis, customized search engines, white papers, meta data processors and information systems in general are just some ways for them to make the big bucks.

How about about Boogle - your on demand complete Bank Software System Suite? I would probably trust google over any other company when it comes to Information Systems.

Re:MOD PARENT DOWN: TROLL

[Anonymous Coward]

Limit Pricing, for advertisers, for one.

Re:Don't take this as a troll, but..

[TinyManCan]

As someone involved in large Enterprise Scale operations, I can say that Google has certainly done something that is not easily duplicated. They managed to get an application running on 10,000 servers that could easily handle a load and dataset that is massive.

Google's strength is not in their search engine, or in gmail, but their ability to execute new appications in a highly available and supportable manner. Google has developed an Operating System for the web so to speak that is head and shoulders above any other system out there currently.

If Google continues to keep delivering solid and functional applications that meet my, and other users needs, we may see a future where the only OS you need on your local computer is a web browser.

That is why this stock is going through the roof. This company has capital, resources and manpower to deliver a Microsoft Killing blow, and is aquiring the skillset and experience needed to pull it off each day they run 'the worlds biggest application.'

Re:finance.slashdot.org

[metlin]

On the contrary.

The DotCom boom was necessary for the Internet to be made popular and the new technology economy to settle in.

There was simply no other way - it was just a means of the new economy setting in, and the dust is beginning to settle now. It could not have happened any other way - this is the only way large scale adoption would have been made possible.

And so, contrary to any and all assumptions, it has done a lot of good than bad. Today, despite anything, the US is numero uno in IT. If stupid politicians don't hurt it, it would stay that way too. Countries like India and China merely provide the equivalent of labour - very small amount of true innovation comes out. The real innovation happens at places like MSR or IBM or PARC.

So yeah, the DotCom has indeed done a great deal of good, too!

Still overpriced

[Fished]

Disclaimer: I own some GOOG, and I've done pretty well with it.

But I wouldn't buy any more at current prices. Even with a 100% increase in profits (which is what they've done) they're trading at a P/E of 180. My general rule is that the earnings growth needs to be less than or equal to the P/E - which means I'd buy GOOG at a P/E of 100, or maybe even 120. (The odds change a bit when earnings growth is truly phenomenal.) But 180 is overpriced by 30-40% at least. Worse, I think that we have to expect their earnings growth to slow down a little in the next few years.

You can't make money in the long run by overpaying, no matter how good the company is.

gBay?

[GeorgeH]

Did anyone else notice that both Google and eBay posted $805.9 million in revenues in Q3? (spotted at Signal vs. Noise)