Google announced its fourth quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon, with earnings per share at $ 8.62. The company reported $ 11.34 billion in revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs, up from $ 8.13 billion from the same quarter a year ago.
Net income was $ 2.89 billion, compared to $ 2.71 billion in last year’s fourth quarter. Excluding special items and one-time charges, net income was $ 3.57 billion, or earnings per share of $ 10.65, compared to $ 3.13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Financial analysts were expecting revenue (excluding traffic-acquisition costs) of $ 12.36 billion and earnings per share (excluding special items) of $ 10.52.
However, the company’s earnings report comes as analysts have differed on how to interpret the company’s numbers, which has been complicated by the company’s Motorola acquisition. Google released a memo to financial analysts last week explaining how the Motorola numbers should be taken into account of the company’s earnings.
The company reported that the average cost-per-click was down 6 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011, and up 2 percent over the third quarter of 2012.
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