Search Engine Optimization

On January 22 Google announced earnings at $4.2 billion net revenue, while Wallstreet estimates were for $4.12 billion.

However, the good news comes with a caveat. Net income saw a sharp decline, year-over-year. The fourth quarter of 2007 saw a net income of $1.2 billion while Q4 2008 saw “just” $382 million. – Search Engine Watch

Fourth quarter losses are due to Google’s investments in AOL for $726 million, and $355 million in Clearwire. Google and AOL have been partners for a while, but Clearwire is the new broadband initiative by Sprint, Clearwire, Google and Intel.

Google and Clearwire

Clearwire is a wireless broadband company which delivers internet through the 2.5-2.6 GHz spectrum in the U.S. and 3.5 GHz in Europe. On May 7 Sprint and Clearwire Entered into a definitive agreement to combine their wireless broadband businesses. Sprint ended up at 51% stake, with 27% for original shareholders and rest split up between Google, Intel and other strategic investors.

For $355 million dollar Google will partner up with Clearwire internet development team for development of applications and advertising services. Google will also be the default search provider in all Clearwire services and applications.

On top of Clearwire Google is in partnership with Sun Microsystems, AOL, Mozilla, News Corp and others. It has received a scrutiny for “buying” traffic from internet giants, however, this is a regular business practice used by Yahoo, Microsoft and other internet companies.