Google Q4 Earnings Miss the Mark But Revenues Break $10B
Google delivered mixed earnings news in its Q4 2011 results. The good news: Google broke $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in company history, and CEO Larry Page actually mentioned Google Apps during today’s earnings call — a small but important tip of the hat to the company’s channel partner strategy. The bad news: That $10 billion quarterly revenue figure “only” represents a 25 percent jump from Q4 2010, far short of some analyst expectations. Likewise, Google’s Q4 net income missed analyst expectations, noted Reuters.
In the official earnings statement, Page said that the search giant’s fourth quarter growth can be attributed to the growth of Google+, Gmail and Android:
“I am super excited about the growth of Android, Gmail, and Google+, which now has 90 million users globally – well over double what I announced just three months ago. By building a meaningful relationship with our users through Google+ we will create amazing experiences across our services. I’m very excited about what we can do in 2012 – there are tremendous opportunities to help users and grow our business.”
But Google didn’t make any significant product announcements in the fourth quarter, nor did it snap up any other companies, so it’s small wonder that analysts were disappointed that it didn’t match the search giant’s endlessly fascinating third quarter.
Larry Page Remains Upbeat
On the earnings call, Page disagreed with disappointed analysts and indicated that he was “very happy” with the results. Intriguingly, where most of the rhetoric usually revolves around Google’s advertising and search businesses, Page indicated strong momentum in Google Chrome, Google Android (reporting that there are now 250 million activated Android devices out there, up 50 million from last quarter) and, again, the Google+ social network.
But most notably for TalkinCloud readers, Page made a rare public shout-out to Google Apps, saying that its enterprise business is also doing very well for itself — though he didn’t offer more specifics.
Well, the suits on Wall Street may be disappointed. Watch our Talkin’ Cloud Stocks Index for the overall impact after U.S. markets close on Friday, January 20. Also, Forbes has more nitty gritty financial detail in its story. But I’m just happy to hear Google Apps getting some love from the Googlers-in-Chief.
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