Google posts first ever revenue drop
- Added:
- Apr 17, 2009
Google has posted its first ever drop in quarter-on-quarter revenues in nearly five years as a public company.
The internet search giant gained $5.51bn (£3.7bn) in revenues during the first three months of 2009, 3% below the previous quarter, marking its first quarter-on-quarter drop.
Google’s revenues were still 6% ahead of the same period last year, but this is the first time that year-on-year growth has dropped to single digits since its stock market launch in August 2004.
Total advertising revenue fell 3% compared to the fourth quarter, its first drop on record.
The company's permanent head count also fell for the first time since it began reporting, to 20,164 compared to 20,222 in the fourth quarter.
The growth rate on Google sites fell 3% compared to the fourth quarter and hit a record low of 9% on a year-to-year basis.
Google Network site growth also turned negative for the first time on a year-to-year basis, by 3%.
The firm's traffic acquisition cost as a percentage of revenue, at 26%, tied with the fourth quarter of last year as the lowest on record.
Google also reined in its capital spending, to just $262.8m, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2005, when it spent $245.8m.
However, the firm's results remained ahead of analyst expectations, while its online dominance puts it in a far better position than most other advertising-based businesses struggling to weather a global slowdown.
Chief executive Eric Schmidt said Google "had a good quarter given the depth of the recession".
"These results underline both the resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the web as users and advertisers shift online," Schmidt added.
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