Google earnings beat expectations

Internet search engine Google kept up its record for surprising investors today after it revealed it more than doubled second quarter profits.

The company, which has launched a number of new products and services in recent months, said net income rose to $721.1m (€570m) in the three months to June 30, from $343m (€271m) last year.

Google has its European headquarters in Dublin.

It was the seventh time in eight quarters as a public company that Google has surprised Wall Street with higher-than-expected earnings.

Revenues for the period totalled $2.46bn (€1.9bn), a 77% increase from $1.38bn (€1bn) a year ago. More than 40% of its revenues now come from outside the United States.

Earlier this week rival Yahoo announced it had matched market expectations and postponed the introduction of a key piece of advertising technology.

Yahoo saw its net income drop to $164m (€129.5m) for the second quarter, as proceeds from investments in the previous year inflated the comparable figure from 2005 to $755m (€596m).

Google, which employs almost 8,000 people worldwide, launched Google Talk, its internet telephone service, and email operation G-Mail earlier this year.

It also boasts 44.7% of the US search engine market compared to Yahoo’s 28.5%, while MSN Microsoft has a hold of 12.8%, according to internet watchdog comScore Networks.

Chief executive Eric Schmidt said: “Google grew at an impressive pace during a seasonally slower quarter. We continue to deliver valuable new products and services to users around the world through partnership and investments in our business.

“Our strong performance results from our clear focus on increasing the quality of user experience, particularly in search and ads.”