the company's good financial performance over the past several years—going from revenues of $439.5 million in 2002 to $10.6 billion in 2006—has resulted in a massive war chest. Google's cash and short-term investments amounted to over $11.2 billion at the end of 2006
Advertising continues to be the engine pulling Google's money train, accounting for 99 percent of its revenues
R&D spending is up to $1.2 billion for 2006
It also enables the company to take a longer-term view with its products and acquisitions, putting it in a position to push new services out the door now and figure out how to make money off them later.
clipped from: arstechnica.com