NYT: “In a conference call with analysts, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, declared that the worst of the recession was over and that the company was ready to begin a new phase of investment, hiring and acquisitions. – Mr. Schmidt said that while some uncertainty remained about the pace of the recovery, Google is ‘very optimistic about the future. We now have the business confidence to invest heavily in the next phase of innovation.’ … Analysts said that Google’s results, which are closely correlated with online spending, are likely to be celebrated across a broad swath of the industry.”

SEL: “Expectations were high for Google’s Q3 given some of the positive reports coming out about clicks and search volumes from third parties such as Efficient Frontier and comScore. Even though Google performed solidly (almost $6 billion in a still-bad economy) there may be some disappointment on Wall Street (apparently not).”

NYT: “So far, there are many encouraging signs. The technology giants Intel, I.B.M. and Google delivered better-than-expected quarterly financial results this week, and their executives expressed confidence that the worst was over and a rebound under way. Top executives at Dell, Cisco Systems and other tech companies have also been optimistic recently. … The steady march of digital technology, in industry after industry, is pushing the demand for information technology. The recession curbed spending for a while, and forced organizations to improve the efficiency of their data centers and technology operations.”

AdAge: “Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said YouTube profitability is coming in the ‘not-too-distant future.’ The company also said it is monetizing more than a billion video views every week on YouTube and about 90% of YouTube homepage inventory sold out in third quarter.”

Mashable: “For the search giant’s third quarter, they reported $5.7 billion revenue, up 7% from the same time last year. Moreover, the company generated $2.54 billion in free cash flow during the quarter, bringing the company’s total cash on hand to a staggering $22 billion. – The significance of that, of course, is that it gives Google (Google) a war chest rivaled only by the likes of Apple and Microsoft to continue to invest in new products and make acquisitions. The company says as much in its earnings release, stating ‘we expect to continue to make significant capital expenditures.’”

TC: “During Google’s third quarter earnings conference call today, one message came out loud and clear: Google’s mobile strategy is starting to pay off. ‘Android adoption is about to explode,’ declared CEO Eric Schmidt, explaining that all the “necessary conditions” are set for growth: There are now 12 Android phones out there (most recently the Motorola Cliq) across 32 carriers in 26 countries.”