<div><p>Google on Thursday posted a five-fold rise in quarterly net profit to 1.97 billion dollars and said annual net profit rose 54 percent to 6.52 billion dollars.</p><p>Fourth-quarter revenue rose 17 percent to 6.67 billion dollars, the Internet giant said in a statement.</p><p>"Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year," Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said.</p><p>"As we enter 2010, we remain hugely optimistic about the Internet and are continuing to invest heavily in technological innovation for the benefit not only of our users and customers, but also the wider Web," Schmidt said.</p><p>Schmidt credited Google's management team, innovative talent, and business model as building blocks for the stellar final months of 2009.</p><p>"As we enter 2010, we remain hugely optimistic about the internet and are continuing to invest heavily in technological innovation for the benefit not only of our users and customers, but also the wider web," Schmidt said.</p><p>In what could be good news for the economy and bode well for other Internet companies, Google saw a 13 percent increase in "paid clicks" on ads posted at its online properties.</p><p>About 53 percent of Google's revenue for the quarter came from outside the United States in what could shine an even harsher spotlight on the Internet giant's threat to pull out of China over online censorship.</p><p>Google earnings for the quarter bested analyst expectations, but the company's stock price slid more than four percent to 557.50 dollars per share in trading that followed release of the report.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67467838&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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