Google sees strong revenue growth

Google profits beat analysts expectations

Google, the internet search engine, saw revenue rise and profits fall in the final quarter of last year in what have been seen as positive year-end results.

Net profit for the period was $382m (£275m), down from $1.21bn for the same period in 2007, a fall of 68%.

The results were affected by charges on investments during the quarter and were better than analysts had expected.

Total revenue was $5.7bn, up 18% compared with the same quarter the previous year.

One-off charges

Without the one-off charges on investments in Clearwire Corp and Time Warner, profits actually rose.

"Google performed well in the fourth quarter, despite an increasingly difficult economic environment," said Google boss Eric Schmidt.

"At least we have something to feel good about with this Google news in what has been shaping up to be a gloomy earnings period," said Keith Wirtz at Fifth Third Asset Management.

Earlier on Thursday, rival Microsoft posted lower profits and announced up to 5,000 redundancies.