Google meets earnings estimates, high costs drag down profits.

Google today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year that ended in December. The search engine leader reported consolidated revenues of $16.86 billion for the quarter, an increase of 17 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Acquisition costs totaled $3.31 billion, or 24 percent of advertising revenues.

Net income in the fourth quarter of 2013 was $3.38 billion, compared to $2.89 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. Earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2013 were $9.90 on 341 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $8.62 in the fourth quarter of 2012 on 335 million diluted shares outstanding. The company holds $58.72 billion in cash and equivalents.

The now-sold Motorola Mobility division continued to see decreasing revenue. The segment contributed $1.24 billion, or seven percent of consolidated revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2013 -- compared to $1.51 billion, or 11 percent of consolidated revenues in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Google segment revenues from outside of the United States totaled $8.77 billion, representing 56 percent of total Google segment revenues in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 56 percent in the third quarter of 2013 and 54 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. Revenues from the UK alone totaled $1.5 billion, 10 percent of Google segment revenues, unchanged from 2012.

Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of network members, increased approximately 31 percent over the fourth quarter of 2012 and increased approximately 13 percent over the third quarter of 2013. Average cost-per-click across the same network decreased approximately 11 percent over the fourth quarter of 2012 and decreased approximately two percent over the third quarter.

Fighting in Tripoli shakes Qadhafi.

TRIPOLI: Protesters overran several Libyan cities on Monday and regime stalwarts started defecting as the pillars of Muammar Qadhafi’s four-decade dictatorial rule began to crumble.

A suggestion in Brussels by British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Qadhafi may have left the country for Venezuela was swiftly denied by Caracas.

Two Libyan fighter pilots — both colonels — flew their Mirage F1 jets to Malta and said they had defected after being ordered to attack protesters in Benghazi, Maltese military and official sources told AFP. Malta is the closest European state to Libya, just 340 kilometres north of its coastline.

Italy put all military air bases on maximum alert after the fighters landed, ANSA news agency reported.

Libyan diplomats at the United Nations joined calls for Qadhafi to quit, US media reported, with deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi telling CNN Qadhafi has “declared war” on the Libyan people and is committing “genocide”.

Benghazi, Libya’s second city and an opposition stronghold in the east, fell to anti-regime demonstrators after military units deserted, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) reported earlier.

Gunfire also rattled in the capital Tripoli on Monday, where protesters attacked police stations and the offices of the state broadcaster, Qadhafi’s mouthpiece, and set government buildings ablaze.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon told Qadhafi in a phone call that the violence “must stop immediately” and called for a broad-based dialogue, a UN spokesman said.

Mr Hague said Qadhafi may be en route to Venezuela, citing “information that suggests he is on his way,” but a Venezuelan official who asked not to be identified retorted: “It’s not true.”

US President Barack Obama was “considering all appropriate actions” as Washington ordered all non-essential staff out of Libya and warned Americans to avoid travel to the north African country.

Libyan state television said security forces were battling “dens of terrorists” in a sweep that has killed a number of people, without specifying where or who was being targeted.

State television reported that Qadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, had set up a commission to probe “the sad events”, and that it would include “members of Libyan and foreign rights organisations”. He had already appeared on television overnight to warn of looming civil conflict.

“Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms… rivers of blood will run through Libya,” he said in a bellicose but rambling speech that also betrayed a hint of desperation.

“We will take up arms… we will fight to the last bullet. We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other… Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia.”