Against All Odds of 2008, Google Still Gains in Q4

Google has just announced its Q4 2008 financial results and amidst all the numbers and figures, one thing is clear – Google is still earning despite the economic downturn that is affecting the world economy.

Google Chief Eric Schmidt sums it all in one statement:

“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,”

For the important numbers and highlights of Google’s Q4 financial reports:

• Total revenue is up at $5.7 billion in Q4 2008 vs $4.83 in 2007 (18% increase) and $5.54 in Q3 of 2008 (3% increase)
• Total revenues for Google-owned sites is at $3.81 billion in Q4 2008 vs. $3.12 in 2007 (22% increase) and $3.67 billion in Q3 of 2008 (4% increase)
• Total revenues through Adsense programs of partner sites is at $1.69 billion vs $1.64 in 2007 and $1.68 billion in Q3 of 2008.

Generally, it was a pretty good 4th Quarter for Google. Let’s see how they fare during the first quarter of 2009. But Schmidt said that his company is focused on the long term strategy and will continue to invest in Google’s core search and ads business while at the same time enhancing display, mobile and enterprises programs.

And perhaps to cushion the effect of the economic slump as well as to give employees some morale boost, Google is offering a one-time Employee Stock Option Exchange program.

Our Board of Directors has approved an exchange offer to allow employees the opportunity to exchange all or a portion of their existing stock options for the same number of new options. This program is currently scheduled to commence on January 29, 2009 and end on March 3, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time, unless Google is required or opts to extend the offer period to a later date. Currently, we expect that new options will have an exercise price equal to the closing price per share of our common stock on March 2, 2009 and that stock options with exercise prices above this closing price will be eligible for exchange, but this may change. Generally, all employees with options are eligible to participate in the program (Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page do not hold options).