Investors have punished Google for falling short of Wall Street’s earnings estimates, with the search giant’s share price falling almost 10% in after hours trading.

Although the company's latest financial results show US$9.50 per share in non-GAAP earnings, compared with US$8.75 in the same period of 2010, analysts were expecting closer to US$10.50 per share.

Shares have fallen 9.15%, from US$639.57 to US$581.04.

Still, the company’s quarterly revenue was US$10.58 billion, an increase of 25% compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. GAAP net income was US$2.71 billion, compared with US$2.54 billion.

The company has cash and cash equivalents of US$44.6 billion, and employee headcount is up to 32,467 from 31,353 three months ago.

Google+, the company’s social network, now has 90 million users globally, although Google hasn’t clarified whether that’s regular visitors or just people who have signed up.

Larry Page, Google CEO, says the company had a strong quarter to end a great year.

"Full year revenue was up 29% and our quarterly revenue blew past the $10 billion mark for the first time," Page says.

"I am super excited about the growth of Android, Gmail, and Google+, which now has 90 million users globally - well over double what I announced just three months ago.

"By building a meaningful relationship with our users through Google+ we will create amazing experiences across our services."

Google received some flak last week for incorporating data from Google+ into its search results. Go here to read more.