By Alexei Oreskovic
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's revenue grew 15 percent in the fourth quarter, falling short of Wall Street's target on declining online ad prices and unfavorable foreign exchange rates.
Shares of Google fell 3.5 percent to $493 in after-hours trading on Thursday.
Google said on Thursday the average price of its online ads, or "cost per click," decreased 3 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, while the number of consumer clicks on its ads increased 14 percent.
Consolidated revenue in the three months ended Dec. 31 totaled $18.10 billion, compared to $15.71 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for revenue of $18.46 billon.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)
