Google doubles profits
San Francisco: Google Inc has reported a more than doubling of second-quarter net profits. The results significantly beat market expectations and sent Google's shares up as much as 2 percent in after-hours trade. Favorable tax rates combined with a higher percentage of revenue coming from Google.com rather than through outside advertising affiliate deals, pushed profit margins higher. Quarterly net income rose to $721 million, or $2.33 per diluted share, from the year-earlier quarter's $343 million, or $1.19 per share. Revenue rose 77 percent to $2.46 billion.
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Microsoft lifts earnings outlook; announces buy back
Seattle: Microsoft Corp. has upped its full-year earnings outlook and announced plans to buy back as much as $40 billion of its stock, boosting its share price by 5 percent.

The world's largest software maker has said it would buy back 8 percent of its stock for up to $20 billion in a tender offer next month, and up to $20 billion more through 2011. The stock has underperformed every major U.S. stock index since the start of 2003.

Microsoft reported a net profit of $2.83 billion, or 28 cents per diluted share, for its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30. A year ago, Microsoft delivered a net profit of $3.7 billion, or 34 cents per share, boosted by a tax gain.
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Ford plunges further into the red
Ford Motor Company has registered losses of $123m (£67m) in April June quarter of 2006-07, and its losses in its North American operations have passed $1bn for the full year on falling demand for sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Bill Ford, the chief executive of the company said Ford Motor would unveil additional job cuts in the next two months to try to halt the slide.

Ford has already pledged to cut 30,000 jobs and close 14 factories by 2012. Last month, the Ford board decided to halve the dividend and cut its pay. The company plans to slash production in North America by 15 per cent - 700,000 vehicles - by the end of this year.

Ford Motor's profits in North America are heavily dependent on sales of SUVs and pick-up trucks. Demand for these large vehicles has fallen since petrol prices shot up to $3 a gallon. In the three months to the end of June, Ford's worldwide sales fell to $42bn from $44.6bn in the same period last year. The quarterly loss of $123m compared with analysts' forecasts of a $210m profit, and the $946m profit recorded in the same three months of 2005.
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