Google's outsized ad growth offsets steep price decline

Google Inc's quarterly revenue beat Wall Street's target despite an ongoing decline in prices for its online ads and deepening losses at Motorola, the handset-making division to be sold to China's Lenovo. Shares of Google, which have risen more than 20 percent in the past three months, rose nearly 4 percent to $1,178 in after-hours trading on Thursday. Google executives said in a conference call on Thursday that the company benefited from strong demand from brand marketers and retailers in the fourth quarter, as well as healthy demand for online ads in international markets. "In the holiday season one thing has become very clear, the Web has truly become the new holiday store window," Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora said.

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