Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) held its q2 earnings call yesterday, and when asked a question about Google+ growth, the answer was very simple, “We are pleased”, said Senior Vice President Advertising, Susan Wojcicki.
The V.P for advertising also pointed out that Google+ was barely a year old, since its addition to the growing portfolio of products in the tech giant’s product line, and now has over 250 million users globally, something she feels the company should appreciate.
Google has virtually integrated all its products with Google+, including Google Search, Google Maps, Former Google Places, and most recently, Google Plus Social, among others. This indicates the confidence Google has in its social product, and its intentions to boost its growth.
Nonetheless, it should be noted that Google has never compared its social product Google+ with other social sites such as Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), or Twitter. On the contrary, it is the press that has repeatedly likened, or compared Google+ with Facebook et al, The Next Web notes.
Additionally, Google does not see its social platform Google+ as a stand alone project, as the so called competitors are, but rather a part of a whole product. Furthermore, Google reported that a majority of its users access Google+ through mobile phones, rather than the web based platform. This is very ironical, considering that social networks have found it difficult to turn the tables in regard to the two modes of accessing social network applications, a good example being Facebook.
Other highlights from the Q2 earnings call include the announcement for the acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (Motorola) on May 22, 2012 (the acquisition date).
Financial announcements include a consolidated revenue of $12.21 billion for the second quarter, which represents a growth of 35% as compared to the same period last year. Google owned sites contributed 69% of Google revenues, which was typically 90% of the consolidated revenues, while partner sites had a share of 27%. Geographically, a majority of the revenues came from outside of the U.S, totaling $5.96 billion, which is 54% of the $10.96 billion Google revenues, reported.
However, the company’s revenues were heavily affected by foreign exchange fluctuations, as per the Q2 proceedings. The company lost approximately $68 million between 2012 Q1 and Q2, and around $350 million between 2011 Q2 and 2012 Q2.
Nonetheless, the figures exclude gains related to the company’s foreign exchange risk management program. The risk management program could only return a gain of $4 million for the Q2 period as compared to Q1 gains of approximately $81 million.
At the time of this writing, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was trading at approximately $607 per share, as demonstrated on the image below courtesy of Google Inc.
