]]>< ![CDATA[
Google Announces Record Revenues for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year
2004
February 01, 2005 4:02:00 PM ET
Google Inc. GOOG today announced financial results for the quarter
ended December 31, 2004.
— Google reported record revenues of $1.032 billion for the quarter
ended December 31, 2004, up 101% year over year. Google reports its
revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting
traffic acquisition costs (“TAC”), or the portion of revenues shared
with our partners.
— Income from operations, on a GAAP basis, was $303 million, or 29.4%
of revenues for the quarter ended December 31, 2004 compared to $86
million or 16.9% of revenues for the prior year’s quarter.
— Income from operations includes a $60 million non-cash, stock-based
compensation charge compared to a $85 million non-cash, stock-based
compensation charge in the prior year’s quarter.
— Net income on a GAAP basis for the quarter ended December 31, 2004
was computed based on the following income statement or condensed
income statement line items. Net income is derived from the above
mentioned revenues of $1.032 billion, traffic acquisition costs of $378
million, as well as other costs and expenses before stock-based
compensation of $291 million, stock-based compensation of $60 million,
other income of $7 million and a provision for income taxes of $106
million.
— Some Wall Street analysts use non-GAAP measures to analyze our
operating results. For instance, they may subtract traffic acquisition
costs of $378 million from revenues of $1.032 billion to arrive at a
net revenues amount. Also, certain analysts may arrive at net income
before stock-based compensation by subtracting traffic acquisition
costs of $378 million, other costs and expenses before stock-based
compensation of $291 million (less other income of $7 million) and a
provision for income taxes of $106 million from revenues of $1.032
billion.
— Net income on a GAAP basis in the fourth quarter of 2004 was $204
million or $0.71 per share on a diluted basis based on 285.9 million
weighted average shares outstanding.
— Net cash provided by operating activities for the twelve months
ended December 31, 2004 totaled $977 million as compared to $395
million last year, an increase of 147%.
— Adjusted EBITDA, another measure of liquidity, increased by $236
million or 125% to $425 million (or 41 % of revenues) in the fourth
quarter of 2004 from $189 million in same quarter of 2003 (or 37% of
revenues) and from $321 million (or 40 % of revenues) in the third
quarter of 2004.
“Google had an exceptional quarter. Revenues and profits increased
significantly, our execution was solid across the company and most
importantly, our relationship with our users, partners and advertisers
became even stronger,” said Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive
officer. “All of this happened while we continued to innovate, expand
around the world and make strategic, long-term investments.”
Q4 Financial Highlights
Revenues – Revenues in the quarter totaled a record $1.032 billion,
representing a 28% increase over the third quarter of 2004 and a 101%
year-over-year increase. This revenues growth reflects strong traffic
and monetization growth in the quarter as well as advertisers’ growing
recognition of the Internet as an effective advertising medium.
Google-Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated $530
million or 51% of total revenues. This represents an increase
of 118% over the fourth quarter of 2003.
The Google Network – Revenues generated on Google’s partner
sites, through AdSense programs, contributed $490 million, or
48% of total revenues, a 92% increase over the Network
revenues generated in the same quarter last year.
TAC – Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with
Google’s partners, increased to $378 million or 77% of Google Network
revenues. This compares to total payments to partners of $216 million
in the fourth quarter of 2003, or 85% of Google Network revenues.
Income from Operations – Income from operations in the quarter, on a
GAAP basis, totaled $303 million or 29.4% of revenues, and included a
non-cash charge of $60 million for stock-based compensation. This
compares to operating income of $86 million or 16.9% of revenues in the
same period of 2003, when the stock-based compensation charge was $85
million. This improvement in operating margins was primarily due to
decreases in stock-based compensation expense and traffic acquisition
cost as a percentage of revenues.
Income Taxes – Google recorded a provision for income taxes of $106
million in the fourth quarter, an effective tax rate of 34% as compared
to a $62 million provision for income taxes and a 70 % effective tax
rate in the fourth quarter of 2003. The provision for income taxes in
the fourth quarter was reduced by $66 million related to certain items,
$42 million due to ISO disqualifying dispositions and $24 million
related to certain stock-based compensation charges recognized prior to
the IPO. The company expects its effective tax rate before these items
to generally trend lower over the long term to a rate below 35%.
However, the company may experience volatility in its quarterly
effective tax rates as a result of certain stock option activity.
Net Income – Net income on a GAAP basis increased to $204 million or
19.8% of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2004 as compared to $27
million or 5.3% of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2003. Earnings on
a diluted per share basis were $0.71 in the fourth quarter of 2004 as
compared to $0.10 in the fourth quarter of 2003.
Fiscal Year 2004 Financial Highlights
Revenues – Google reported revenues for calendar year 2004 of $3.189
billion, a 118% increase over the $1.466 billion reported for 2003.
Google saw growth throughout the year both in our domestic business and
internationally, both on Google owned sites and on the Google Network.
Specifically, revenues from Google owned sites increased 101% on a year
over year basis, from $792 million to $1.6 billion. The company
attributes the rapid growth to increased visits to its sites and to its
accumulated knowledge of how to more effectively and efficiently
monetize that traffic. Revenues from the Google Network grew 147% in
the year, from $629 million in 2003 to $1.6 billion in 2004. This
growth reflects growth in the number of partners in the network in both
the AdSense for Search and the AdSense for Content programs, as well as
improved monetization of those programs.
Income from Operations – On a GAAP basis (including the settlement
charge) our operating income in 2004 rose 87% on a year-over-year basis
to $640 million, representing a full year operating margin of 20.1%.
Excluding the effect of a third-quarter, 2004 non-cash, non-recurring
charge associated with a legal settlement, our operating income for the
full year 2004 increased 146% to $841 million, up from $342 million the
prior year. Again, excluding the aforementioned charge, our operating
margin for the full year rose to 26.4% from 23.4% the previous year.
Operating income as reported in both 2004 and 2003 was reduced by
significant non-cash stock-based compensation charges of $279 million
and $229 million respectively.
Net Income – Net income for the year 2004 rose to $399 million from
$106 million in 2003, an increase of 278%. Adjusting for the impact of
the third quarter 2004 settlement charge and for certain tax benefits,
net income totaled $406 million in 2004. On a GAAP basis, earnings per
share increased to $1.46 this year from $0.41 in 2003.
Cash Flow – Net cash provided by operating activities increased 147% to
$977 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004 from $395
million in 2003. Free cash flow is an alternative measure of liquidity
to GAAP net cash provided by operating activities and is calculated as
operating cash flows less capital expenditures. Capital expenditures
were $319 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2004 as
compared to $177 million in the twelve months ended 2003. Free cash
flow for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004 totaled $658 million
as compared to $219 million for the same period in 2003, an increase of
200%.
Adjusted EBITDA – Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA before the
non-cash stock-based compensation charge, the non-cash and
non-recurring settlement charge and in-process R&D. It is another
alternative measure of liquidity to GAAP net cash provided by operating
activities. Adjusted EBITDA increased to approximately $1.280 billion
in 2004, or 40% of revenues, from $638 million, or 44% of revenues, in
2003. For the fourth quarter of 2004, adjusted EBITDA increased to $425
million from $321 million in the third quarter. The reconciliation of
adjusted EBITDA to the GAAP measure of liquidity, net cash provided by
operating activities, is set forth at the back of this release.
Cash – As of December 31, 2004, Google had a cash, cash equivalents and
short-term investments balance of $2.132 billion.
On a worldwide basis, Google employed 3,021 full time employees as of
December 31, 2004, up from 2,668 as of September 30, 2004.
Webcast and conference call information
A live audio webcast of Google’s fourth-quarter earnings release call
will be available at http://investor.google.com/news.html. The call
begins today at 1:30 p.m. (PDT)/ 4:30 (EDT). This press release, the
financial tables as well as other supplemental information including
the reconciliations of certain non-GAAP measures to their nearest
comparable GAAP measures, are also available at that site. A replay of
the call will be available beginning at 7:30 PM EDT through midnight
Tuesday, February 15, by calling (888) 203-1112 in the United States or
(719) 457-0820 for calls from outside the United States. The required
confirmation code for the replay is 0676870.
Forward looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to the Google’s
market opportunity and future business prospects. Actual results may
differ materially from the results predicted and reported results
should not be considered as an indication of future performance.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ from the results
predicted are included in Google’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and
from time to time in other reports filed by Google with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
About non-GAAP financial measures.
To supplement Google’s consolidated financial statements presented in
accordance with GAAP, Google uses non-GAAP measures of certain
financial performance and liquidity. These non-GAAP measures are
comprised of income from operations, net income and net income per
share before material non-recurring and other items, as well as free
cash flows and adjusted EBITDA. Google’s management believes that
income from operations before material non-recurring and other items
and net income before material non-recurring and other items provide
meaningful supplemental information regarding the company’s core
operating results because they exclude amounts that are not necessarily
related to those core results and are of a substantially non-recurring
nature. Google’s management believes that free cash flows and adjusted
EBITDA provide meaningful supplemental information regarding liquidity.
Google believes that both management and investors benefit from
referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the
performance of Google’s ongoing operations and liquidity and when
planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial
measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to Google’s
historical operating results and liquidity.
Google computes its non-GAAP financial measures using the same
consistent method from quarter to quarter and year to year. The
accompanying tables have more details on the GAAP financial measures
that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures and
the related reconciliations between these financial measures.