Facebook Versus Google Circa 2004

By Ben Worthen via wsj.blogs

Is Facebook worth $50 billion? As people ponder that question this week, we decided to look at Google, the Internet’s previous wunderkind.

Google’s market cap passed the $50 billion mark in October 2004. The company was exactly six years old—Facebook turns seven next month—and had just announced quarterly revenue of $806 million, up 105% from the same period a year earlier.

Through the first nine months of 2004, Google reported revenue of $2.2 billion and net income of $195 million. Through the first nine months of 2010, Facebook’s revenue was about $1.2 billion and its income was $355 million, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a citing a private-placement memo being distributed to potential investors in the company.

For all of 2009, Facebook’s revenue was $777 million and its income was $200 million. Google in 2003—the similar year in the search giant’s history—reported revenue of $1.5 billion and a profit of $106 million.

So there you have it. Google’s revenue was higher, but it wasn’t as profitable as Facebook. Also, it looks like Facebook is growing a little faster than Google was at the time.

The math in this comparison is admittedly fuzzy, and comparing a social network to a search engine isn’t exactly online apples to apples. But does knowing Google was worth $50 billion change how you feel about Facebook’s valuation?