Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) 01 (May 08 - Jul 17)

[millionairemind]

May 19, 2009
Google ups share of search

WASHINGTON - GOOGLE increased its share of the US online search market in April while Yahoo! and Microsoft both lost ground, according to figures released on Monday by tracking firm comScore.

ComScore said that 64.2 per cent of the searches conducted by Americans in April were at Google sites, up from 63.7 per cent in March.

Yahoo!'s share of the search market slipped 0.1 percentage points in April to 20.4 per cent while Microsoft saw its share fall by 0.1 percentage points to 8.2 per cent.

Search engine Ask held steady at 3.8 per cent while AOL saw its market share fall by 0.3 percentage points to 3.4 per cent, comScore said.

The tracking firm said Americans conducted 14.8 billion searches in April, up three per cent over March, with Google accounting for 9.5 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! with three billion and Microsoft with 1.2 billion. -- AFP

[millionairemind]

China Disables Some Google Functions

BEIJING — The Chinese government disabled some search functions on the Chinese-language Web site of Google on Friday, saying the site was linking too often to pornographic and vulgar content.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/world ... ref=global

[kennynah]

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Hold Q2 2009 Earnings Conference Call on July 16

Atlanta, GA 7/10/2009 09:16 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will be holding a Q2 2009 conference call for investors and analysts on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. PT (4:30 p.m. ET).

[kennynah]

below is taken from seekingalpha..posted by someone...duno who he is except that he is an anal-yst

[kennynah]

GOOG posts Q2 EPS 4.66 vs 3.92 last year...

first immediate reaction on after markets....tanked $10 to ~$432 from market close of $442

*************
Google Q2 Profit Rises - Quick Facts
7/16/2009 4:13 PM ET

(RTTNews) - Google Inc. (GOOG: News ) Thursday posted second quarter GAAP net income of $1.48 billion or $4.66 per share, compared to $1.25 billion or $3.92 per share in the second quarter last year. Non-GAAP net income in the second quarter was $1.71 billion or $5.36 per share, compared to $1.47 billion or $4.63 per share in the year-ago period.

On average, 33 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $5.09 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP earnings per share exclude the expenses related to SBC and the related tax benefits. In the second quarter of 2009, the charge related to SBC was $293 million as compared to $273 million in the second quarter of 2008. The tax benefit related to SBC was $69 million in the second quarter of 2009 and $48 million in the second quarter of 2008.

Revenues for the period were $5.52 billion, compared to $5.37 billion in the same quarter last year. Thirty-one Wall Street analysts expected revenues of $4.06 billion.

[kennynah]

2010hr 20Jul09 +8 GMT
Business Week reports

Google's (GOOG) push into the Web phone-calling market is likely to take market share from Internet phone companies such as eBay's ( EBAY ) Skype unit, and could put pressure on Microsoft (MSFT) and Cisco (CSCO), which sell online calling software to businesses. Business Week reports that Skype could be the one to feel pressure the most. "It's probably the biggest current threat to Skype ," Jeffrey Lindsay , an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein says. Eventually, "it could be a duopoly" between Google and Skype in the market for Web calling via cell phones, Lindsay says. Google may end up holding 60% of that market, he adds.

[winston]

I'm very happy with Skype. It would take alot for me to switchover to Google ..

[kennynah]

unless GOOG offers a compelling package to make international calls ...

[iam802]

AOL is one of those American companies that has sucked lots of money in and deliver very little back.

Total lack of focus, no innovation and in my opinion, a zombie company.

Yet, even companies like Google likes to throw money at it. What's with all these Americans and their due diligence.

=====
Time Warner buys Google out of AOL

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stor ... ily28.html

Time Warner Inc. has acquired Google Inc.'s 5 percent stake in AOL for $283 million.

The sale was completed on July 8, bringing to an end the involvement of the search giant (NASDAQ: GOOG), which paid $1 billion for the stake in AOL in 2005. Time Warner said in a regulatory filing that the price includes Google's share of cash distributions it got.

Google wrote down $726 million from its investment last year.

When it bought the stake, AOL was valued at about $20 billion. The price paid this month places a $5.66 billion value on the company.

.....

[winston]

Whenever there's a transaction, always ask why the Sellers are selling, as they always have more info than the Buyers.

BTW, Google will need to generate another US$7.3b in Sales at 10% margin, just to pay for this stupid misadventure in AOL.

Hero mah ..