Google reported on Thursday that its first quarter net profit rose by more than 37 percent while revenue increased by 23 percent to 6.8 billion dollars.<\/p>\n
The Mountain View, California-based Internet search and advertising giant said net profit in the quarter that ended on March 31 was 1.96 billion dollars, compared to 1.42 billion dollars in the same quarter a year ago.<\/p>\n
Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette said revenue growth was “driven by strength across all major verticals and geographies.”<\/p>\n
“Going forward, we remain committed to heavy investment in innovation –both to spur future growth in our core and emerging businesses as well as to help build the future of the open Web,” Pichette said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The amount of cash Google makes from pay-per-click online advertising climbed 15 percent from the same quarter last year, indicating the firm’s revenue will improve along with the global economy.<\/p>\n
Despite the strong financial showing, Google’s stock price sagged more than five percent to 565.25 dollars per share in after-hours trading that followed the release of the earnings report.<\/p>\n
While Google’s first-quarter earnings topped Wall Street expectations investors were concerned that the firm’s fierce pace of hiring signals a shift to free spending ways that could erode future profit.<\/p>\n
Google hired 800 people during the quarter and remains hungry for new talent, especially for sales or engineering teams, executives said during an earnings conference call.<\/p>\n
“Every time I can find another great engineer we are going to hire them; Google needs them,” Pichette said. “On the other side there is discipline. It is not like you can do whatever you want around here.”<\/p>\n
Google is eying bringing in new talent through acquiring technology firms as well as by hiring, according to executives.<\/p>\n
“We are trying to ramp up our machine particularly in the area of engineers and sales,” Pichette said.<\/p>\n
“The bar at Google has not changed; it remains incredibly high. We have so many projects that we would love to have more engineers right now.”<\/p>\n