Google revenue climbs 26 percent

Google included a bombshell in its earnings report today (namely that co-founder Larry Page will replace current chief executive Eric Schmidt), but in addition to the big news the company also shared its earnings numbers as usual — and as usual, they exceeded analyst estimates.

The company said that during its fourth quarter of 2010, its net income increased $2.54 billion, or $7.81 per share, beating estimates of $8.06 per share and up from $1.97 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. Total revenue was $8.44 billion, up 26 percent from the same period last year.

Other noteworthy numbers from the earnings report:

• Google-owned sites generated $5.67 billion, or 67 percent of total revenues
• Google partner sites in the AdSense program generated $2.50 billion, or 30 percent of total revenues
• International revenue was $4.38 billion, 52 percent of the total
• Paid clicks increased 18 percent over the fourth quarter of 2009
• Cost-per-click paid by advertisers on Google ads increased about 5 percent over the same period last year
• As of December 31, Google had $35 billion in cash
• As of December 31, Google had a workforce of 24,400 full-time employees, up from 23,331 at the end of the previous quarter.