Even the mighty Google can’t get away from the economic recession that basically hit the whole world. The search giant revealed its financial results and, as it always did, made jealous other companies who can only dream of such financial reports. However, although it recorded a profit growth, Google definitely feels the recession. 

 

"No company is recession-proof,” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on Thursday during the press conference held to present the company’s first quarter financial report. 

 

“Google is absolutely feeling the impact," the executive added.

 

Now let’s get down to numbers. Google’s net income was 8 percent higher as it grew to $1.42 billion and its revenue, subtracting commissions paid to advertising partners, grew 10 percent to $4.07 billion (about $10 million below analyst estimates). The company’s vast majority of income came from money it received from advertisers when people clicked on ads placed next to search results. 

 

However, the recession shows its effects in Google’s revenue. The company’s revenue grew constantly and steadily with each quarter that passed, but in the first quarter of this fiscal year the revenue declined 3 percent. Overall, compared to last year, the company’s revenue grew 6 percent

 

Google managed to beat the analysts forecasts regarding the company’s net profit thanks to cost cutting, but the overall business may need more time to recover. The Web search giant has been known for pampering its expanding number of employees and investing in almost everything it could think of and was interesting to it, but that changed once the recession hit.  When the recession started to show its sharp teeth in December 2007, Google didn’t seem to care much and its financial reports didn’t worry it. However, those days are history now. 

 

Google showed more discipline in spending and, as expected and as always, it paid off as the company recorded net profit growth in the first quarter and it was even higher that analysts had forecasted. 

 

Although it was good news Google unveiled on Tuesday, Google’s share price dropped 50 cents in extended trading after finishing the regular session at $388.74, up $9.24.

 

Google’s CEO restrained from making predictions on when the economic condition might improve. Mr. Schmidt only underlined the fact that the world economy is in “uncharted territory.” 

 

Nevertheless, Google is doing much better financially than other players in the advertising industry. This is mainly due to the fact that Google relies on a marketing system that is less expensive and way more effective than other more traditional systems.