Google posted on Thursday its latest financial results which saw the Internet search giant's profit down more than 68 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with a year ago.

Google earned US$382 million or US$1.21 per share in the last three months in 2008, compared with net income of US$1.21 billion or US$3.79 per share in the same period a year earlier.

Though it was the first time that Google's quarterly profit fell, it still beat analysts' expectation.

The company also reported revenues of US$5.7 billion for the quarter ended on December 31, 2008, an increase of 18 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 and an increase of three percent compared to the third quarter of 2008.

"Google performed well in the fourth quarter, despite an increasingly difficult economic environment. Search query growth was strong, revenues were up in most verticals, and we successfully contained costs," Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"It's unclear how long the global downturn will last, but our focus remains on the long term, and we'll continue to invest in Google's core search and ads business as well as in strategic growth areas such as display, mobile, and enterprise," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2009)