Google Cuts Temporary Workers, But Murky on Details

To help shore up profits, Google's management has curbed some of the generous employee perquisites that have been a company hallmark for the past decade. It has closed some company cafeterias that serve free meals and last month withheld a $1,000 holiday gift that's traditionally distributed to all employees. Instead, the company handed out free cell phones that run on Google software -- a gift that management valued at about $400.

But Google doesn't plan to scrimp on research and development or acquisitions.

In the SEC filing, the company said it expects to devote roughly 18% of its annual expenses to research and development during each of the next two years. That's roughly the same%age as the past four quarters, when its expenditures in the category totaled $2.7 billion.

Google also said it expects to buy other companies at a pace consistent with the past two years, when $4.2 billion in cash went toward acquisitions. Google's $3.2 billion acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick Inc., completed in March, accounted for most of that amount.

"Given the consolidation occurring in the online advertising industry, it is reasonable to expect that Google may in the future spend considerably more to acquire companies in this sector," the company wrote in the SEC filing.

Antitrust regulators, though, probably would take a hard look if Google tries to buy another Internet ad service. The U.S. Department of Justice already unraveled a proposed partnership that would have enabled Google to sell ads for Yahoo, which runs the second-largest search advertising network. Google backed out of the alliance in November to avoid a legal battle with the government.