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Recession Hits Hard But Good is Unfazed

It took awhile, but the recession has definitely sunk its teeth into Google’s financial performance.

“No company is recession-proof. Google is absolutely feeling the impact,” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a conference call Thursday after reporting first-quarter financial results.

Google’s revenue growth rate has been slowing, but for the first time since it went public, the company’s quarter-to-quarter revenue declined.

The company, as is customary, reported results that most business only dream of, recession or not. Its net income grew 8 percent to $1.42 billion and its revenue, excluding commissions paid to advertising partners, grew 10 percent to $4.07 billion.

It generated free cash flow of $2 billion for the quarter, the vast majority of it derived from money advertisers pay Google when people click on ads next to search results.