Google misses estimates in third quarter, announces new business chief

From CNET: Google's advertising machine rolls on, but not without its sputters.

The world's largest search engine on Thursday said sales rose 20 percent to $16.52 billion in the third quarter ended September 30. Profit, minus some costs, was $6.35 a share. Analysts were expecting sales of $16.59 billion and profit of $6.54 a share.

On a conference call with analysts to discuss the results, the company announced Omid Kordestani, the company's former chief business officer, had returned to the role. The company's last business chief, Nikesh Arora, announced in July that he was leaving Google for the Japanese telecom firm SoftBank.

"I'm thrilled to be back at my old job," said Kordestani, on the call.

Google, which makes most of its money from ads, is the leader in digital advertising revenue in the United States, with 38.3 percent market share, according to eMarketer. Though that's slightly down from last year's 39.7 percent share, Google still has a sizable lead. By comparison, No. 2 ranked Facebook has a 9.7 percent. But as the online ad industry shifts to devices like smartphones and tablets, Google gets less for mobile advertising.

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