With layoffs piling up in nearly every corner of the economy, technology stalwart Google Inc. appears to be the first stop for many unemployed workers looking for their next job.
The number of Americans visiting job-search sites jumped 50 per cent last month compared with December, 2007, and many used the search engine kingpin's website to locate them.
Yesterday, Google told analysts during a conference call to discuss its most recent quarterly financial results that it added 100 net new employees in the most recent quarter, bucking a trend that has seen technology bellwethers Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Sony Corp. all announce layoffs this week.
The news wasn't all good, however. Google revealed after the close of markets that its quarterly profit slipped for the first time, but the Mountain View, Calif., company managed to top Wall Street expectations by cutting its spending sufficiently to avoid the wrath of a slowdown in the Internet advertising market.
"It's now clear we're in a worldwide recession as everybody knows," Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said during the call.
Google's results were a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy week for the technology sector, which had appeared to be in a position to weather the economic storm just three months ago.
Google said that revenue for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, rose 18 per cent over the same period a year earlier to $5.7-billion (U.S.). Profit, however, fell to $382-million, or $1.22 a share, a 68-per-cent drop from the $1.2-billion the company earned in the fourth quarter of 2007.
"Search query growth was strong, revenues were up in most verticals, and we successfully contained costs," Mr. Schmidt said in a statement. "It's unclear how long the global downturn will last, but our focus remains on the long term, and we'll continue to invest in Google's core search and ads business as well as in strategic growth areas such as display, mobile, and enterprise."
While competitors such as Yahoo Inc. were cutting staff during the quarter, Google added to its work force, bringing its global employee base to more than 20,000, although the company did cut a number of recruiters that it no longer needs.
Many of those employees, however, now hold options in Google that are "under water" and can not be cashed in at a profit after the company's share price plummeted nearly 50 per cent over the past 12 months.
Google said that those employees - estimated to number about 17,000 - would be permitted to trade the outstanding stock options they currently hold for new options that come with a lower exercise price, in an effort to give those staff a better chance at cashing them in for a profit in the future.
Google was also prompted to take a writedown of $1.1-billion on the $1.5-billion of investments the company made in Clearwire Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s beleaguered AOL LLC.
Still, paid clicks - a major revenue engine for the company - rose 18 per cent over the same period last year and were up 10 per cent over the third quarter of 2008.
GOOGLE (GOOG)
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