Google CFO: Q3 strong across sectors and regions

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) delivered a solid third-quarter, defying Wall Street fears that the global economic crisis would trip up the Web advertising leader, its chief financial officer said on Thursday.

"Overall, we had a good third quarter with strong traffic and revenue growth among all our sectors and geographies," Patrick Pichette, Google's recently hired chief financial officer, told Reuters after the company's quarterly report.

Pichette said the company continued to hire new staff but did so judiciously, finishing September with 20,000 employees. "We are tracking (employment) very closely. We are continuing to hire but we are doing it cautiously," he said.

(Reporting by Eric Auchard)