Google says targeted ads can withstand econ slump

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc has seen no impact from broader economic weakness in its own business and is confident its targeted advertising can withstand most economic scenarios, its CEO said on Thursday.

Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told investors on a conference call the company's Web search and advertising business has seen no impact from macroeconomic weakness.

"On the macro side we've looked at this really carefully and we do not see an impact as of this time," Schmidt said in response to an analyst's question about how wider economic trends would figure in its business.

"Our conclusion is that we're well positioned, should economics change, to continue to do well because our model is so targeted and targeted advertising does well in pretty much most scenarios, we think," Schmidt said.

(Reporting by Eric Auchard, with additional reporting by Michele Gershberg in New York; Editing by Braden Reddall)