Google reported revenue of $8.44 billion

Google announced fourth-quarter earnings Thursday that soundly beat expectations of analysts, capping a year that matched 2006 as the search giant's best for profitability.

Google reported fourth-quarter revenue of $8.44 billion, a 26 percent jump compared with the fourth quarter of 2009. Google notched profit of $2.54 billion, or $7.81 a share, a 29 percent jump over the same quarter in 2009.

Excluding stock-compensation expenses, Google says it earned $8.75 a share. Analysts had expected $8.06 a share.
For the year, Google had revenue of $29.3 billion and profit of $8.5 billion, a 30 percent jump over 2009 profit.