Google jump aboard the recovery train

January 22, 2010
by Richard Gregory

Unemployment’s on the down, retailers are rejoicing to the sound of ringing tills again and now Google have thrown another sign of an economic recovery out there by announcing a 17% YoY global revenue increase. Their earnings call last night would have been music to the ears of Alistair Darling as they also announced that their UK revenues had increased by 13% and UK QoQ revenue grew 1 % versus a drop of nearly 12% this time last year.

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt suggested the strong performance had come from Google’s ability to innovate at the beginning of a market recovery. He highlighted local and mobile as key areas where they have accelerated innovation as the recovery wave grows.

Google have rolled out a lot of new features over the last few months, however, I think that the boost in the online retail sector may have played a major role in this increase, as an incredibly strong online Christmas boosted the whole sector. The lucrative gaming market they dived into is also now well developed, and they have definitely taken home some big winnings from this market.

Google must have been happy seeing in 2010 particularly as they always see growth in Q1 over Q4.I’ll be watching with interest to see if they can beat their previous UK revenue peak of $801m this quarter. The only potential cloud may come from the repercussions of their recent actions in China.

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