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Google's 4Q Tops Analyst Views Despite Drop

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Jan 22, 2009 4:15 pm US/Eastern

Google's 4Q Tops Analyst Views Despite Drop

  Quarterly profit at Google Inc. fell for the first time, although the performance was better than analysts anticipated.

The results released Thursday indicated the company was able to rein in its free-spending ways enough to offset a slowdown in the online ad market that generates most of the revenue. That contrasted with a missed forecast and 5,000 layoffs announced earlier in the day by rival Microsoft.

Google made $382 million, or $1.21 per share, in the three months ending in December. That was a 68 percent drop from the same period in 2007.

If not for employee stock compensation costs and a charge to account for deteriorating investments, Google said it would have made $5.10 per share. That beat the average estimate of $4.95 per share among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

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