The US internet behemoth Google reported a fourth-quarter revenue of $16.86 billion on Thursday, up 17 per cent over the same quarter the year earlier.
The company said its net income in the quarter ended December 31, 2013 was $3.92 billion, up from $3.39 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Even though its sales beat analysts predictions, Google grappled during the quarter with lower prices for ads that appear on smartphones compared with those on desktop computers. The average price of mobile device ads declined 11 per cent during the quarter, Google said.
The report comes a day after Google announced the sale of its Motorola mobile phone business to Lenovo Group for $2.91 billion. Google bought the company for $12.4 billion in 2012.
Motorola’s declining revenue again weighed on Google’s quarterly results. The unit’s revenue fell 18 per cent to $1.24 billion in the fourth quarter despite new models such as the Moto X.
As of December 31, 2013 Google had cash and securities worth $58.72 billion on hand, the company’s statement said. Earlier this month it used some of that reserve to buy digital thermostat maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion and artificial-intelligence company DeepMind Technologies for $400 million.