Google Sees Modest Growth in Q2 2009

Google released the financial results for the second quarter of 2009 and the numbers are in line with expectations, with revenue growth a mere 3 percent year over year. The company earned $5.52 billion in the last three months compared to $5.37 last year and a nudge over analyst estimates which pegged revenue at $5.49. While the search giant performed a little better than predicted, shares dipped 2 percent after the results were released. Profits on the other hand were up 18 percent over Q2 2008 at $1.48 billion compared to $1.25 billion.

“Google had a very good quarter, especially given the continued macro-economic downturn. While most of the world's largest economies shrank, Google's year-over-year revenues were up 3%. These results highlight the enduring strength of our business model and our responsible efforts to manage expenses in a way that puts us in a good position for the economic upturn, when it occurs,” Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, said. “We remain focused on investing in technical innovation to drive growth in our core and new businesses.”

Most of the revenue came from Google sites with $3.65 billion, also a 3 percent increase year over year. The company's partner program AdSense brought in another $1.68 billion from the advertising displayed on sites part of the Google Network, a 2 percent growth from Q2 2008. Internationally the biggest market was the UK, earning $715 million or 13 percent of the total revenue, a slight drop from Q2 2008's 14 percent.

Reflecting the tough state of the advertising market, paid clicks were down 2 percent over the last quarter but up 15 percent year over year. However, the cost-per-click was down 13 percent year over year and 5 percent from Q1 2009.

While the outlook is moderately optimistic for the company as a whole, Google executives were very pleased with YouTube's performance and expected to see profit from the site sometime in the future though a time line was not specified.