Google Inc. reported its first-ever drop in quarterly profit Thursday, but the Internet search leader is still weathering the economic storm better than analysts anticipated.
The fourth-quarter results indicated Google was able to rein in its free-spending ways enough to offset a slowdown in the online ad market that generates most of the company’s revenue.
That contrasted with a missed forecast and 5,000 layoffs announced earlier in the day by rival Microsoft Corp.
Even so, there were signs the 13-month-old recession is starting to bear down on Google.
The downturn forced Google to write down $1.1 billion of the combined $1.5 billion that it has invested in two troubled companies, AOL and Clearwire Corp.
And Google is allowing its 20,222 employees to swap their outstanding stock options for new ones that will carry a lower exercise price, giving the workers a better chance of making money from the options.
The move was driven by a 47% drop in Google’s stock price over the past year, leaving about 17,000 employees holding options that are “under water” and can’t be cashed in now at a profit.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt described the fourth quarter as “the easy part” and calling the upcoming months “uncharted territory.”
“We don’t know how long this period will last,” Schmidt told analysts in a conference call. “We obviously hope it will be short. We’re certainly prepared to get through this, no problem.”
Google made $382 million, or $1.21 per share, in the three months ending in December. That was a 68% drop from the same period in 2007.
Google’s profit had climbed by at least 17% in its previous 17 quarters as a public company.
If not for employee stock compensation costs and the charges on its 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. Revenue climbed 18% to $5.7 billion.
That marked the first time Google’s revenue growth had fallen below 30% from the previous year.
In a sign that skittish consumers are still coming to Google when they want to shop, the fourth-quarter volume of clicks on Google’s ads rose by 18% from the same time in 2007. That’s important to Google because the clicks trigger payments by advertisers.
“Our business is quite healthy, especially given the economic climate,” Schmidt said.
Even though its revenue is still rising, Google has become more frugal to better position itself during tighter times.
Besides closing little-used or unprofitable services, Google has been clamping down on its payroll.
The company added just 99 workers in the fourth quarter—down from an average quarterly increase of 1,300 employees in the past two years—and recently laid off 100 recruiters because it no longer needs them.
What’s more, Google spent just $368 million on capital projects in the fourth quarter, a 46% drop from the previous year.
