Google made $18.1 billion in revenue last quarter, Chromecast #1 selling streaming device, Google Glass team takes a breather

Another day, another earnings call. Leading Google’s Q4 2014 earnings call, as usual, was Google CFO Patrick Pichette talking about the company’s performance towards the end of last year. It’s less than Wall Street expected, but things are still on the up and up.

Google tipped the scales at $18.1 billion in revenue (15% growth year-over-year) and $4.76 billion in net income (up from 2013’s $3.38 billion). This means Google’s total revenue for 2014 was $66 billion, a 19% increase from the previous year.

Sites Revenues – Our sites generated revenues of $12.43 billion, or 69% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2014. This represents an 18% increase over fourth quarter 2013 sites revenues of $10.54 billion.

Network Revenues – Our partner sites generated revenues of $3.72 billion, or 20% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2014. This represents a 6% increase over fourth quarter 2013 network revenues of $3.52 billion.

Other Revenues – Other revenues were $1.95 billion, or 11% of total revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2014. This represents a 19% increase over fourth quarter 2013 other revenues of $1.65 billion.

Google faced some unique challenges this time around (like the growth of the US dollar) and what they call “unusual operating expenses” totaling over $300 million this quarter. Half of this was SBC (stock-based compensation), while the other half came from real estate portfolio. Google also hired more than 2,000 new employees (compared to 1,700 previous year).

Google also didn’t beat around the bush when it came to what just about everyone believed was a failed Google Glass project. Google mentioned that while they aren’t normally afraid to make the tough calls and cancel initiatives when they aren’t working out (or hit milestones before receiving further investments), the team at Google Glass were asked to pause and reset their strategy.

Looking back on 2014, Google talked about some of their more notable achievements like Chromecast being the #1 best selling streaming device in the US last year (with more than 1 billion casts since launch), and the fact that Sony Pictures’ The Interview saw the majority of its $15 million first weekend sales come from Google Play and YouTube.

For all those interested, you can find more detailed numbers over on Google’s official Investor Relations page linked below.

[Google Investor Relations]