Google’s profit surges during fourth quarter

Google Inc.’s Internet-leading search engine fueled a sevenfold increase in fourth-quarter profits to soar past analyst expectations.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said Tuesday that it earned $204.1 million, or 71 cents per share, during the final three months of 2004. That compared to net income of $27.3 million, or 10 cents per share, at the same time in 2003. Revenue for the period totaled $1.03 billion, more than doubling from $512.2 million in the prior year.

The company released the results after the stock market closed. Google’s shares fell $3.72 to close at $191.90 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then climbed by $10.14, or 5.3 percent, in extended trading.

Telecommunications

SBC to cut 13K jobs after AT&T acquisition

SBC Communications Inc. said Tuesday it expected to eliminate about 13,000 jobs after its $16 billion acquisition of AT&T Corp. closes, but the telephone company stressed that many of those positions can be cut through attrition rather than layoffs.

The projection came during an occasionally heated meeting with investors a day after SBC announced plans to acquire AT&T, its former corporate parent.

The cuts would come in addition to existing plans at the two companies to eliminate at least 12,000 jobs before the merger is finalized at least a year from now.

Internet

FTC says complaints about auction sites up

Americans are increasingly turning to Internet auction sites to buy and sell goods from around the world, and a growing number think they might be getting a raw deal online.

The number of complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission over Internet auctions has nearly doubled from 51,000 in 2002 to more than 98,000 last year, the agency said Tuesday in its annual report on consumer fraud and identity-theft complaints.

Complaints for all types of fraud have grown since 2002, according to the FTC report. Internet auction grievances comprised 13 percent of the 403,000 total fraud complaints in 2002; in 2004, it made up 16 percent of the 635,000 grievances.

Finances

Economists expect Fed to increase rates

Federal Reserve policy-makers are likely to keep bumping up short-term interest rates this year, a defense against an inflation flare-up now that the economic expansion is on firm footing.

The Fed is expected to boost its key federal funds rate by one-quarter point to 2.50 percent today. The policy-makers, in their first gathering of 2005, opened a two-day meeting Tuesday.