Google’s revenue growth continues

Tim Burrowes

January 23, 2009 9:35

Google’s growth has continued, according to its results for 2008, which were released about an hour ago.

Based on US accounting methodology, the search giant saw revenues of US$5.7bn for the last quarter of the year – an increase of 18% on the same quarter in 2007 and of 3% on the previous quarter in 2008. Operating profits were $1.86bn for the quarter.

CEO Eric Schmidt said: “Google performed well in the fourth quarter, despite an increasingly difficult economic environment. Search query growth was strong, revenues were up in most verticals, and we successfully contained costs.”

He added: “It’s unclear how long the global downturn will last, but our focus remains on the long term, and we’ll continue to invest in Google’s core search and ads business as well as strategic growth areas such as display, mobile, and enterprise.”

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.