Google profits surge keeps rivals at bay

Google has shrugged off the threat of emerging rivalry from Bill Gates's Microsoft and said a bumper Christmas helped fuel a huge surge in its profits.

The company's search engine, used for about a third of all internet searches, is facing an increasing challenge from giant Microsoft which is trying to claw back lost ground in the market for searching the web.

Only about one in six searches take place on Microsoft's software or its online pages.

Google, which made multi-millionaires of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when it was floated on the US stock market last year, said total sales during 2004 soared to $1billion (?530 million) as advertisers flocked to link themselves to the company's web search results. Google's net profit smashed Wall Street expectations to hit a record $204.1 million, up from $27.3 million a year ago.