Internet search engine Google has reported a 23% increase in revenue for the first three months of this year, beating analysts' forecasts.
Google also said it increased its workforce by nearly 800 employees in the period - the biggest increase in staff since the first quarter of 2008.
Google - which has beaten earnings expectations in every quarter but one in the past two years - made a net profit of $1.96 billion, or $6.06 a share. This was up 37% from $1.42 billion, or $4.49 a share, a year earlier.
Google, which controls roughly two-thirds of the US search market, said revenue in the first quarter totalled $6.77 billion, compared with $5.51 billion in the same period last year.
Net revenue, which excludes costs that Google pays to partner websites, was $5.06 billion, up 2.2% from the seasonally strong fourth quarter.
