However, Google also reported Thursday that its first-quarter net income increased to $1.4 billion from $1.3 billion in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share were $5.16, handily beating expectations of analysts, which were $4.93, according to Thomson Reuters.

Though the revenue decline shows that top-line growth is slowing, investors pushed up company shares by $9.62 to $398.30 in after-hours trading within an hour of the announcement. One reason why some investors may not be too worried about the sequential revenue decline is that Google at some point has to succumb to the law of large numbers: Essentially, the larger a company is, the harder it is to maintain top-line growth, especially in a recession. The better-than-expected profits also were cause to cheer.

Also Thursday, Nokia reported what was expected to be a terrible first quarter, as sales of mobile phones dipped below 100 million units. Revenue for the period was €9.3 billion (US$12.3 billion), down 27 percent from a year earlier. Profit went into free fall, hitting €4 million from €1.2 billion a year ago.