There's no sad faces over at Google, who again ended up raking in cash for the last quarter of 2006. Over the course of 4Q 2006, Google managed to pull down $1.03 Billion net income, despite their expensive purchases and industry fears of a collapse. Can they keep the momentum up? Not indefinitely, for sure, but in the short term many analysts are saying yes:
Google held firm to its practice of not issuing forward-looking guidance, but most analysts said there is little reason to think Google cannot continue to post strong profit and sales expansion for some time. In fact, many of Google's most recent initiatives – from radio and newspaper ads to its YouTube purchase – have yet to begin paying dividends.
Microsoft can't be happy about this. They have been at Google's throat for years and have yet to find a way to beat them down, though they are trying. For this year, Google's CEO has come out to say that they will be looking to vastly expand mobile searches, which seems an ideal area to grow in, with the increased use of PDAs and web-equipped cells.