Google Inc. announced financial results for the quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2006 and reported revenues of $2.25 billion, an increase of 79 percent compared to the first quarter of 2005.

The company's partner sites generated revenues, through Google AdSense programs, of $928 million, or 41 percent of total revenues. This figure is a 59 percent increase over network revenues of $584 million generated in the first quarter of 2005 and a 16 percent increase over fourth quarter 2005 revenues of $799 million.

Nielsen//NetRatings reported that sponsored link impressions on the Google ad platform grew 14 percent over the past six months, from 37.4 billion in October 2005 to 42.8 billion in March 2006. Nielsen also found that Google continues to have the largest share of searches among top search providers at 49 percent.

"Google had an exceptional quarter with strong growth and profitability, from both Google properties and the network," says Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "We are driving this growth through investments in our infrastructure and our people, product innovations that attract new users, and relationships with advertisers and partners around the world.  The strength of our business model gives us the opportunity to invest in our business, allowing us to maintain and grow our market leadership."