Google has announced a 46 per cent ($1.07 billion) third-quarter rise in profits compared with the same period last year.The internet giant also revealed that it has experienced a 57 per cent increase in revenue, from $2.69 billion to $4.23 billion, while earnings for the period were $3.91 a share.
Excluding the commissions paid by Google to its advertising partners, revenue stood at $3.01 billion, approximately $70 million higher than analysts had predicted.
Commenting on the results, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said: "We're very pleased with such strong results in what's seasonally one of our weaker quarters. It's obvious to us our model continues to work very well."
Meanwhile Jeffrey Lindsay, analyst at wealth management firm Sanford C Bernstein & Co, told the Los Angeles Times: "We always look for balance and we are looking very hard to find something negative to say about this quarter, but it's very difficult. Google improved on all fronts we were hoping it would improve on."
During the quarter, the search engine also hired an additional 2,130 members of staff, including 1,000 recent college graduates, to end the period with a total of 15,916 employees.
The results came after reports in Bloomberg that the company was under pressure to perform well following a 21 per cent rise in its stocks over the past month alone.
According to analyst David Katz of New York investment firm Matrix Asset Advisors, the results had to live up to expectations if Google was to keep its stock prices rising.
