Google growth slows dramatically in Q1

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA: Google's revenue has declined from one quarter to the next for the first time since the Internet search leader went public nearly five years ago.

That shows how this recession is hurting even highly profitable companies like Google.

Google remains in fine financial shape, with a first-quarter profit of $1.42 billion, or $4.49 per share. That was a 9 percent increase from $1.31 billion, or $4.12 per share, at the same time last year.

The Mountain View-based company took in first-quarter revenue of $5.5 billion. Compared to the same time last year, Google's revenue increased 6 percent, by far the slowest growth rate in its 19 quarters as a public company.

And it represented a slight drop from $5.7 billion in the fourth quarter, the first such falloff for Google.