Last Thursday Google announced its Q1 numbers that blew the estimates away. I have been meaning to write about how incredible these numbers are, but Fred Wilson was quicker:
Quarterly revenues – $2.25bn, up 79% year over year
Quarterly EBITDA – $1bn – up 86% year over yearNow let’s just take a second to comprehend those numbers.
We are witnessing a business that is approaching $10bn in annualized revenues growing at 80% year over year.
And we are looking at a business with operating margins of almost 50%.
Now, having lived through the go-go 90’s with my 401K in picked-tech (i.e., very few tech stocks), and having learned my lesson, I am usually the sceptic who says, "everytime we are promised a ‘paradigm shift’ and that this time ‘it’s different’, we see asset prices reverting to mean." (I am reading "American Sucker" by David Denby right now, which serves as a nice reminder.)
However, I can not help but get excited about what an amazing company Google seems to be building. If I were old media, I would be worried.