Google shares up on profits news

Google's share price has risen sharply on the back of the company's latest results.

The firm revealed that in the fourth quarter of the year it made profits of $3.38 billion (£2.05 billion), which was up 17 per cent from a year earlier.

Advertising revenues continue to make up a large part of Google's business despite its diversification into new markets, although a widening loss of $384 million was confirmed by Google in its Motorola Mobility unit, which was compared to $152 million in 2012.

Earlier this week, Google announced that it had done a deal with PC manufacturer Lenovo to acquire the Motorola Mobility smartphone business. Google took a major hit on the smartphone firm, but this does not appear to have had a major impact on the state of the company.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive officer of Lenovo, explained that the firm will be acquiring an "iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team" as a result of the purchase, which was revealed to be approximately $2.91 billion.

Great growth

"We ended 2013 with another great quarter of momentum and growth," said Google chief executive Larry Page in a statement.

The share price of Google has risen by 50 per cent in the last 12 months, with the company asserting its position as one of the world's largest firms in recent years. Having initially started as an internet search specialist, Google branched out into new markets such as smartphones and is now working on self-driving cars and wearable technology, among other ideas.

Mr Page added: "We made great progress across a wide range of product improvements and business goals. I'm also very excited about improving people's lives even more with continued hard work on our user experiences."

Google stocks rose by more than 2.5 per cent on the Nasdaq yesterday on the back of the new financial results, before increasing by a further four per cent in after-hours trading at the end of the session.

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