Google's first-quarter profit rose 69%, maintaining the online search leader's penchant for obliterating analyst estimates, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said the stellar results left little doubt that Google has widened its lead over its closest rival in Internet search and advertising, Yahoo, whose first-quarter earnings eroded.
Google detailed its sparkling performance on the same day that several major US newspaper companies announced another quarter of financial decay, underscoring an advertising shift that is enriching Internet upstarts at the expense of traditional media outlets struggling to adapt to a new order, the report said.
Google now reigns as the most profitable, and probably most powerful, force on the Web, the report said.
In the latest demonstration of its clout, Google earned $1 billion during the first three months of the year, the report said.That compared with net income of $592.3 million in the same period last year, it added.
Quarterly revenue reached a new company high of $3.66 billion, a 63% increase from $2.25 billion a year earlier, the report further said.