Google Keeps Scoring

7/18 - "Google’s growth rate has decelerated while its annual revenue has jumped from $3.2 billion to $16.6 billion in the past three years. Last quarter (Q1 2008) the company’s revenue rose 42% in a difficult financial environment. Approximately 51% of this revenue came from international markets, whose contribution increased to 52% in the second quarter, but the company had to spend more to cover its foreign exchange exposure.

Google’s share of the search engine market was 58.5% in January 2008. This figure had grown to scary 62% in May. In a previous post I mentioned that Google controls 79% of the pay-per-click ad market and derives 99% of its revenue from advertising. But according to Eric Schmidt, CEO, “Traffic and revenue have held up well despite uncertain economic conditions, as everybody knows.”

"In the near future, revenue from ads on mobile phones will also be a part of Google’s profits. As I mentioned earlier, Google still needs to increase their vertical scope and enter verticals such as Jobs, Travel, Auto, Real Estate Health and Personals...No one is yet able to hit Google where it is weak: vertical search, vertical ad networks, personalization. Microsoft and Yahoo! are mired in their own messy maneuverings, leaving the field wide open for Google to keep scoring!"