Categories: Tech & Society

Google Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2012 Results

Google Inc. reported consolidated revenues of $14.42 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Consolidated revenues would have been $15.24 billion had Motorola Home been included.

“We ended 2012 with a strong quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “Revenues were up 36% year-on-year, and 8% quarter-on-quarter. And we hit $50 billion in revenues for the first time last year – not a bad achievement in just a decade and a half. In today’s multi-screen world we face tremendous opportunities as a technology company focused on user benefit. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be at Google.”

Q4 Financial Highlights

Revenues and other information – On a consolidated basis, Google Inc. revenues for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 was $14.42 billion, an increase of 36% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.

Google Revenues (advertising and other) – Google revenues were $12.91 billion, or 89% of consolidated revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2012, representing a 22% increase over fourth quarter 2011 revenues of $10.58 billion.
- Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $8.64 billion, or 67% of total Google revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2012. This represents a 18% increase over fourth quarter 2011 Google sites revenues of $7.29 billion.
- Google Network Revenues – Google’s partner sites generated revenues of $3.44 billion, or 27% of total Google revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2012. This represents a 19% increase from fourth quarter 2011 Google network revenues of $2.88 billion.
- Other Revenues – Other revenues from Google were $829 million, or 6% of total Google revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2012. This represents a 102% increase over fourth quarter 2011 other revenues of $410 million.
Google International Revenues – Google revenues from outside of the United States totaled $6.9 billion, representing 54% of total Google revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to 53% in the third quarter of 2012 and 53% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Foreign Exchange Impact on Google Revenues – Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the third quarter of 2012 through the fourth quarter of 2012, our Google revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012 would have been $130 million lower. Excluding gains related to our foreign exchange risk management program, had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the fourth quarter of 2011 through the fourth quarter of 2012, our Google revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012 would have been $193 million higher.
- Google revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $1.30 billion, representing 10% of Google revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to 10% in the fourth quarter of 2011.
- In the fourth quarter of 2012, we recognized a benefit of $37 million to Google revenues through our foreign exchange risk management program, compared to $25 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Reconciliations of our non-GAAP international revenues excluding the impact of foreign exchange and hedging to GAAP international revenues are included at the end of this release.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, increased approximately 24% over the fourth quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 9% over the third quarter of 2012.

Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, decreased approximately 6% over the fourth quarter of 2011 and increased approximately 2% over the third quarter of 2012.

TAC – Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $3.08 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $2.45 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 25% in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to 24% in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our Network members, which totaled $2.44 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $634 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Motorola Mobile Revenues (hardware and other) – Motorola Mobile revenues were $1.51 billion, or 11% of consolidated revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012.