• Financial Times, Friday, April 20, 2007 10:30 AM

What if Google delivered whopping earnings and nobody cared? Google's first-quarter earnings haven't been the media event of the past. Revenues jumped 65% to $2.53 billion, a $1 billion increase over last year, while its international business grew an astonishing 81%, raising its share of revenues to 47% from 42%. On a pro-forma basis, which excludes employee stock options, the company delivered $3.68 a share, easily beating analysts' expectations of $3.31.

Attribute the lower-key press coverage to the fact that it's the same old story with Google: search. "The most important thing is that the core business is really strong," CEO Eric Schmidt said, as he does every quarter, which "allows us to take calculated risks in new markets." The most significant news, perhaps, was the company naming Schmidt as its formal chairman.

Indeed, the real story will be the day bold acquisitions like YouTube and DoubleClick start contributing materially to Google's bottom line. Until then, not only will the press start to overlook Google earnings results, but investors will, too. Its search growth--while still phenomenal--is slowing, and will only continue. Google shares were up 4% in late trading.

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