Strong advertising sales boosted quarterly earnings for Google Inc on Thursday.
Google said fourth-quarter net income fell to $US382 million, from $US1.21 billion, a year earlier due to charges on its investments in Clearwire Corp and Time Warner Inc unit AOL.
However, revenue rose 18% to $US5.7 billion. The result is considered by analysts to be a robust performance given the weak economy and corporate cuts in advertising spending.
Google's revenue comes via searches on its branded sites, as well as through partnerships which license its search advertising platform.
Google-owned sites generated 67% of revenue, or $US3.81 billion, rising 22% from a year ago. Traffic acquisition costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, decreased to $US1.48 billion.
Ahares rose to $US314.51 in after-hours trading from their Nasdaq close of $US306.50.
