Google Inc (GOOG)’s “Other Revenue” Starting To Add Up

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Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is a lot more than the dominant player in in the search engine and online ad sector. The tech giant has invested in a wide variety of sectors, and have their finger in the pie in the alternative energy, artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, smart appliances and robotics sectors, among others.

The company’s experimental investments in only tenuously related sectors is made possible by its massive and still growing revenues. Overall revenue for fourth quarter 2013 was $16.86 billion, up a solid 17% over the year before. According to market research firm eMarketer, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is currently bringing in around 40% of the total mobile and desktop digital ad revenues in the U.S., and more than 30% on a global basis.

Other revenue surged in 4Q 2013 earnings report

Although Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) missed profit expectations for the fourth quarter of 2013, only reporting $12.01 a share versus $12.20 analyst consensus, Google’s “other revenue,” grew 99%, more than doubling year-over-year to $1.6 billion and up a scintillating 34% quarter-over-quarter.

Other revenue mainly from Google Play store

Although the company did not break down exact figures, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) did allow that the other revenue stream resulted largely from strong sales in its Google Play store, where consumers can buy apps, books and music.

When asked a question about future plans regarding recent acquisitions as the latest earnings conference call, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) CFO Patrick Pichette said,”As you know from the Nest acquisition and [Google] Glass and wearables, we continue to innovate and we continue to be committed to the hardware in areas that are kind of enterprising, promising; new frontiers where we’re actually focusing”.

Searching for new Internet “on ramps”

Northwestern University technology professor Mohanbir Sawhney describes Google as a company searching for new on-ramps to the Internet. “The first thing to look at is how do you define the core competency,” Sawhney elaborated. “From that standpoint, online search is not as Google would define itself—it takes a much broader view of how it thinks about its business, organizing the world’s information as useful and monetizing that process. And Google wants to own all of these on-ramps.”

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