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Google revenue up 17% on strong ad revenue in fourth quarter Google UK revenue soars in fourth quarter
(about 5 hours later)
Google's revenue rocketed to $16.86 billion (£10.23bn) in the fourth quarter, but disappointed analysts expectations with its numbers. UK revenues jumped 15.5 per cent to $5.6 billion (£3.6bn) last year as the Internet giant’s advertising business continued to accelerate.
Revenue jumped by 17 per cent, up from $14.42 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier. Revenues in Britain, the company’s second-biggest market outside the US, accelerated from $4.85 billion in 2012. Google recorded its best UK quarter in the final three months of the year, with turnover hitting $1.5 billion.
But losses at the internet giant's Motorola arm, which it sold to Lenovo on Wednesday, weighed on earnings, pushing it to a loss of $384 million in the quarter. The 2013 total means that Google’s turnover is almost as big as the haul from the BBC licence fee, which reached £3.65 million last year.
Google increased the number of paid clicks by 31 per cent, but the company's average cost-per-click for the fourth quarter was down 11 per cent. News of Google’s soaring revenue, the bulk of which comes from advertising, will heap further pressure on the company over its tax arrangements. Despite its huge revenues, Google’s UK operation last year paid just £11.2 million in corporation tax.
Google chief executive Larry Page said: "We ended 2013 with another great quarter of momentum and growth.  Google's standalone revenue was up 22 per cent year on year, at $15.7 billion (£9.5 billion). The company was slammed as “devious, calculated and unethical” by the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, the Labour MP Margaret Hodge, when UK chief Matt Brittin appeared before the committee last year.
"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 pays all its taxes legally but books most of its UK sales through Ireland, avoiding corporation tax.
The figures come on the heels of fellow heavyweights Apple and Facebook posting results earlier this week. Google employs close to 2,000 people in the UK with offices in Covent Garden, Victoria and Manchester. The search giant is currently spending  £650 million on building a new UK headquarters in King’s Cross.
In October, HM Revenue and Customs indicated that it is investigating Google over its tax affairs following evidence from a whistle-blower who claimed British taxpayers are being "cheated" by the company. According to its latest figures, Google had 47,756 full-time employees on its books at the end of 2013. The company’s $5.6 billion revenue was revealed in its fourth-quarter results, announced last night. Globally, Google’s revenue rocketed 17 per cent to $16.86 billion, but losses at its Motorola arm, which it sold to the Chinese company Lenovo on Wednesday, weighed on earnings, pushing it to a loss of  $384 million for the quarter.
Additional reporting agencies Google chief executive Larry Page said: “We ended 2013 with another great quarter of momentum and growth.”
Amazon, another US technology giant whose British tax arrangements have been criticised, also reported its fourth- quarter numbers. Sales rose 20 per cent to $25.59 billion, while the online retailer made a profit of $239 million.
Amazon’s UK arm had its best ever sales day on December 2, “Cyber Monday’, when 4.1 million items were ordered at a rate of 47 items a second.
AIM-listed Top Level Domain Holdings has raised £21 million to bid against the likes of Google and Amazon for new internet domain names.
The company, which is renaming itself Minds + Machines, is bidding for 43 domains including .app, .yoga, .wedding and .gay.