Ads Drive Sharp Surge in Earnings at Google - New York Times

Another interesting Google stat: 

During the quarter, Google continued to hire workers at a brisk pace. It had 10,674 employees as of Dec. 31, up from 9,378 on Sept 30. For the last few years, the company’s work force has nearly doubled in size annually.

Source: Ads Drive Sharp Surge in Earnings at Google - New York Times