Wall Street's somewhat pessimistic forecast for Google earnings in the face of increased competition and spending was overturned by Thursday's earning's report showing that profits in the second quarter rose to $2.5 billion, up 36 percent from 2010.
A poll of analysts by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of $7.85 dollars per share. In fact, said Google, it earned $8.74 per share (the results included one time charges totaling $1.06 per share).
Google's enduring profit center of advertising tied to the robust search function–66 percent of that market–showed a rising profit, as did the number of clicks on their ads. Paid clicks were up 18 percent and the cost per click to advertisers up 12 percent versus last year.
Google CEO Larry Page opened the call noting that sales for the company rose to $9 billion. Reported revenue was $6.9 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations of $6.6 billion.
“We had a great quarter, with revenue up 32% year on year for a record breaking over $9 billion of revenue,” Larry Page, CEO of Google, said in a statement. “I'm super excited about the amazing response to Google+ which lets you share just like in real life.”
