San Fancisco ? Google Inc.’s third-quarter profit nearly doubled in the latest demonstration of the Internet search leader’s phenomenal financial firepower.

The results, released late Thursday, lifted Google shares by more than 7 percent – an upturn that translates into about $10 billion in additional stockholder wealth.

The performance surpassed analyst estimates by a whopping 20 cents per share and underscored the Mountain View-based company’s widening advantage over its main Internet rivals.

Yahoo Inc., which runs the Internet’s second-largest advertising network behind Google, has been hurt by slowing revenue growth most of this year – a problem that contributed to a 38 percent drop in its third-quarter profit.