Consumers know Google primarily as a search engine, but for years the company has been trying to diversify into new products, including email, Web apps, mobile phones, and YouTube.

But in reality, Google is still the world's biggest ad-driven media company. And the vast majority of its ad revenue still comes from ads on Google sites, mostly Google Search. (Gmail and YouTube also contribute, but not much).

During 2009, Google reported $24 billion in gross revenue. If you subtract the $6 billion Google paid out to partners as revenue splits and traffic acquisition costs, Google's net revenue last year was $18 billion. Almost all of this revenue came from ads.

Specifically, once you subtract the traffic acquisition costs, here's where the company's net sales come from:

A huge majority from Google-owned sites

A thin slice from the AdSense business

And a similarly thin slice from "licensing and other revenues," which includes Google's search appliances, Google Apps, etc.





Enjoyed this chart? Check out: CHART OF THE DAY: In Case You Had Any Doubts About Where Microsoft's Profit Comes From

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chartoftheday

Get This Delivered To Your Inbox

You can get this dropped in your inbox every afternoon as The Chart Of The Day. It's a simple. It's convenient. It's free. All we need is your email address, country and postal code. Sign up below!