Shareholders reward Google, after paid clicks lift Q2 2012 results
Google shares rose about 3 percent in after-hours trading today, following a positive second-quarter earnings report that included subsidiary Motorola Mobility. Revenue reached $12.21 billion, up 35 percent year over year. Motorola contributed $1.25 billion revenue on its first listing in a Google earnings report. Without the subsidiary, revenue would have grown 21 percent.
The search and information giant completed the $12.5 billion acquisition in mid May, so Motorola only contributed for about 39 days to second-quarter results.
Traffic acquisition costs were $2.6 billion, or 25 percent of revenues, during Q2. Removing them and Motorola, revenue reached $8.36 billion.
Paid clicks rose 42 percent year over year and 1 percent sequentially.
In Q2 2012 net income was $2.79 billion, up from $2.51 billion a year earlier.
Motorola posted an operating loss of $233 million -- $192 million from mobile and $41 million for the home operations, dragging earnings as it lifted revenue.
CEO Larry Page issued a statement about the quarter's results, but he didn't participate in the earnings call, nor did he post to Google+, as he has done in recent quarters. His absence continues to raise questions about his health.
"Google standalone had a strong quarter with 21 percent year-on-year revenue growth, and we launched a bunch of exciting new products at I/O -- in particular the Nexus 7 tablet, which has received rave reviews", Page says. "This quarter is also special because Motorola is now part of the Google family, and we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users".
In after-hours trading, Google pushed up more than 3 percent before settling at plus 2.72 percent. Google closed $593.06 and is $609.20 as this story posts.
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