Google on Thursday reported a big jump in profits in the three months to last month as its budding online social network blossomed and Android smartphones gained traction.
Net income rose to US$2.73 billion on the wings of online advertising revenue that soared to US$9.72 billion in the third quarter, which ended on Sept. 30.
“The word that springs to mind is ‘gangbusters,’” Google co-founder and chief executive Larry Page said at the start of an earnings conference call with press and analysts.
Photo: EPA
“Ever since I’ve taken over as CEO, I’ve focused much of my energy on increasing Google’s velocity and execution,” he continued. “The team is really cranking.”
Revenue was up 33 percent compared with the same quarter last year, with the bulk of the money being raked in at the California-based Internet powerhouse’s online properties.
Google’s stock price jumped more than 6 percent to US$594.53 a share in after-hours trading, following the release of the earnings report.
Page said Google’s online social networking challenge to Facebook was growing fast and has topped 40 million users. Facebook boasts 800 million users.
“People are flocking to Google+ at an incredible rate and we are just getting started,” he said, adding that billions of digital photos had already been shared at Google+.
Social features highlighted at Google+ will be “baked in” to the Internet star’s other online offerings, according to the chief executive.
“Last quarter we shipped ‘plus’ and now we are going to ship the Google part,” Page said of weaving social and sharing features throughout the firm’s platform.
“We are still at the very early stages of what technology can deliver,” he added.
“These tools we use online will look very different in five years’ time and we are building these tools into Google-plus,” he said.
The Internet giant on Sept. 20 opened google.com/+ to the public as it ramped up its challenge to leading social network Facebook.
The move came with an array of improvements Google had made to the social network it launched in an invitation-only test format on June 28.
Meanwhile, use of Chrome is “through the roof,” with more than 200 million people using the Google-made software for browsing the Internet, according to Page.
He added that the spread of Android was “mind boggling” with more than 190 million smartphones or tablet computers around the world being powered by the Google-backed operating system for mobile devices.
“You won’t believe what we managed to get done in Ice Cream Sandwich,” Page said, referring to the latest version of Android to make its formal debut next week in Hong Kong at an event being held by consumer electronics titan Samsung.
Google reported that it was on track to bring in US$2.5 billion in revenue a year from mobile offerings.
Page brushed aside inquiries about legal attacks on Android devices by rivals Microsoft and Apple, saying that Google would staunchly defend itself against intellectual property claims.
“We are serious about protecting the Android ecosystem,” Page said.
“While there are lots of people trying to attack it, we see no signs that it is effective and think it will alienate their customers and relationships with other companies,” he added.
Google has been eliminating 20 products in recent months as part of a mission to streamline its offerings and better focus resources.
Google ended the quarter with US$42.5 billion in its coffers and has 31,353 employees.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS