Google Inc. on Thursday reported first quarter net income of $1.42 billion, or $4.49 a share, up from $1.3 billion or $4.12 a share in the same period last year.

Mountain View-based Google had revenue of $5.51 billion, up 6 percent from the year-ago quarter's $5.19 billion, and was roughly in accordance with analysts' average expectation of $5.53 billion.

But revenue fell 3 percent from the 2008 fourth quarter.

Excluding items, the company's income would have been $1.64 billion, or $5.16 a share.

Google shares rose $18.78 to $407.52 in extended trading. The shares, up 26 percent this year, closed at $388.74 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.

During the quarter Google cut 340 jobs, which is about 1 percent, from its about 20,200-employee work force.

Google had a good quarter given the depth of the recession -- while revenues were down quarter over quarter; they grew 6% year over year thanks to continued strong query growth. These results underline both the resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the web as users and advertisers shift online, said CEO Eric Schmidt.

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