Google hits $50 billion in revenue

Internet giant still has immense potential

a woman

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Internet titan, Google earned more than US$50 billion in revenues last year. No wonder the word 'Google' is now a 'verb'.

And not a bad achievement for a company just 15 years young, said co-founder and chief executive Larry Page.

For the full year, Google reported a net profit of US$10.7 billion, with revenues in the fourth quarter jumping by 36% over the previous year, partly helped by the acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Following the release of earnings, Google shares jumped more than 3.5% to more than US$730 per share. The company dominates the US online advertising market, with market tracker, eMarketer estimating that 41% of digital ad revenue in the US goes to Google.

Mr Page said the group had ended 2012 with a strong quarter. "In today's multi-screen world we face tremendous opportunities as a technology company focused on user benefit," adding "It's an incredibly exciting time to be at Google".

With the world's number one internet search engine, YouTube, its advertising market domination, a market leading position with the Android mobile device platform, its expansion into hardware, social networking, cloud infrastructure, and Google Play, Android's equivalent of Apple's iTunes, Google has its fingers in many pies. Many of which reinforce its strengths and brand, which brings in more users and revenues.

As the gateway to the internet, Google has a huge competitive advantage to realise a lot of synergies by introducing new business lines. Over the long run, the company has immense upside potential.

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