WebProNews - Financial

Google Seeking Not To Cross The Creepy Line

Rich Ord — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:26:05 +0000

Google CEO Eric Schmidt while appearing on Fox Business made some interesting comments about Google's emergence as a huge Microsoft-like business power. I thought most interesting was Schmidt's statement about Google becoming like Microsoft, "Hopefully, we won't repeat the mistakes that Microsot made ten years ago that ultimately led to all these things that happened with them".

Schmidt elaborated:

"In our case we see ourselves as a disruptor, and a disruptor because we are using new technology to solve real consumer problems, that in some cases people didn't even realize could be solved. We are also a company that operates at scale using computers globally. And of course, we are in the information business and people have a lot of opinions on how information should be organized."

Fox Business' Neil Cavuto asked Schmidt in reference to Google's new Dashboard product how we really knew if Google deleted our personal data when we pressed delete via Dashboard. Schmidt's response:

"Because we say so and we would be sued (if we didn't)."

Cavuto joked: "It's like ... come in peace to serve man."

Watch the whole interview below:

Turkey Asks Google For $47 Million In Taxes

Doug Caverly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:08:53 +0000

It seems that Google's accounting practices may not be quite in line with accepted Turkish procedures. In fact, Turkey's government has determined that the search giant owes it a little over $47 million in unpaid taxes.

Robin Wauters wrote earlier today, "Local media reports (links in Turkish) teach us that the Turkish government claims it is entitled to additional taxes because of the fact Google operates its online advertising in the country and even boasts offices and a registered subsidiary there while bills and payments originate from Ireland."

Wauters later continued, "Google, which is [the] market leader in search and online advertising in Turkey, has unsurprisingly countered these claims saying that it runs its ad network operations from Ireland . . . . Google said it is acting in accordance with the tax laws of every country in which it operates, including Turkish laws, and that its negotiations with the government on this issue are ongoing."

Still, whether Google is or isn't obeying the letter of the law, the odds aren't exactly in its favor. After all, YouTube's been blocked in Turkey for almost a year and a half just because a few user-generated videos claimed that the country's founder was gay, so the Turkish authorities have demonstrated a real ability to misplace blame and hold a grudge.

Google's market cap, by the way, is $170 billion, so $47 million at least wouldn't represent any sort of deathblow.

Related Articles:

> YouTube Faces Formal Complaints In Germany

> Google Puts Analysts' Targets, Recession In Rearview Mirror

> Google Caught In Another Patent Dispute

Amazon Introduces PayPhrase

Mike Sachoff — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:52:20 +0000

Amazon.com has introduced "PayPhrase," a new shortcut for making purchases at the online retailer and other websites.

PayPhrase works by allowing users to choose their own phrase along with a PIN and then set up their shipping information, which is stored at Amazon.

Amazon customers can use PayPhrase to make purchases at any websites that offers Checkout by Amazon, such as DNKY, Patagonia, Buy.com and J&R Electronics.

Amazon says PayPhrase shortens the online shopping process by not requiring customers to share sensitive payment information with multiple websites. Customers can type their PayPhrase into a button on the product page, and click to preview the total cost of the order, including shipping and tax.

Customers can skip steps such as "Add to cart," "Proceed to checkout," by using their PayPhrase information.

"PayPhrase solves the headache of trying to keep track of all the different usernames and passwords people use to shop on various sites across the web. With PayPhrase all you need is one phrase and one PIN to pay online," said Matt Williams, General Manager, Amazon PayPhrase (Matt's PayPhrase is "good to go").

"We think customers will enjoy the simplicity that Amazon PayPhrase offers, and we hope they'll have some fun choosing their own personal phrases."

Merchants can accept PayPhrase orders by using Checkout by Amazon, which automatically supports PayPhrase. Parents can use PayPhrase to set up an online allowance for their kids and approve each order via email, mobile phone or text alerts.

>Amazon Rolls Out Kindle For PC

> Amazon Offers Payment Services For Charity Donations

> Amazon Introduces Mobile Payment Service

Amazon Completes Acquisition of Zappos

Chris Crum — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:42:35 +0000

Update: Amazon announced the completion of its acquisition of Zappos.com today. The Zappos management team will remain intact, and Zappos will operate independently with its headquarters in Las Vegas.

Original Article: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh sent an email to Zappos employees today informing them that Amazon is becoming the only shareholder of Zappos stock. The following video from Jeff Bezos was also posted on the Zappos Blog:

Here is a sample of what Hsieh said in the email:

Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say "Amazon acquires Zappos" or "Zappos sells to Amazon". While those headlines are technically correct, they don't really properly convey the spirit of the transaction. (I personally would prefer the headline “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…”)

We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos -- continuing to do what we believe is best for our brand, our culture, and our business. From a practical point of view, it will be as if we are switching out our current shareholders and board of directors for a new one, even though the technical legal structure may be different.

We think that now is the right time to join forces with Amazon because there is a huge opportunity to leverage each other's strengths and move even faster towards our long term vision. For Zappos, our vision remains the same: delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors. We just want to get there faster.

Zappos employees will still have their jobs, and the company will continue to run the same way. In fact, Zappos says they will need to hire more people to continue growing. The company's leaders will remain in place as well.

For all of the available details, you can read the entire lengthy email here, as well as a Q&A. The transaction is not one of cash. Zappos shareholders and option holders will be issued 10 million Amazon shares. More details of the deal will be made public after an SEC filing.

Related Articles:

> Zappos Will Pay You To Quit

> Branded Pages And SEO

> Amazon Introduces PayPhrase

NASDAQ Launches Social Networking Site

Mike Sachoff — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:50:16 +0000

NASDAQ, the world's largest exchange company, has launched its own social networking site called NASDAQ Community, aimed at people in the financial sector.

"NASDAQ Community promotes market transparency and investor education through active engagement among people with shared interests," said John Jacobs, Executive Vice

NASDAQ-Community

"With rich content and powerful tools, NASDAQ Community empowers investors -- from sophisticated to novice -- and enables them to interact in a variety of ways and become better investors. NASDAQ OMX is pleased to bring more innovation and greater transparency to the markets."

Features of NASDAQ Community include:

    *   Create a profile and add friends;
    *   Rate stocks and connect with other members to
    *    view their stock picks and interests;
    *   Go beyond the data and gain investment insights with commentary from experts
    *   Find the latest news and community events;
    *   Follow favorite authors; and
    *   Ask other Community members questions about financial needs.

>Social Networks Blamed For $2.25B In Lost Productivity

> Making Money With Social Media Marketing

> Using Facebook Traffic To Drive Brand Loyalty

Consumer Online Spending To Grow 24%

Mike Sachoff — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:16:06 +0000

Online retailers can expect to see an increase in consumer spending compared to the previous quarter, according to a new survey by Javelin Strategy & Research and released by eBillme.

Online shoppers predict they will spend an average of $281 online during Q4 2009, a 24 percent increase over last quarter. This is the first increase in spending since last year, but an 18 percent decrease in the overall spending rate compared to Q4 2008.

"This quarter's uptick in spending is evidence of improving consumer optimism as we head into the holiday shopping season," said Marwan Forzley, President and CEO of eBillme. "While consumers are planning to loosen their financial constraints this quarter, they are still holding on to recession spending habits.

"This includes changing the way they shop and pay to better control debt. Forty percent of consumers plan to use their credit cards less often in favor of non-credit payment options this quarter. We have seen this significant shift in attitude towards credit carry over from previous quarters, and it will definitely impact consumer spending decisions this holiday season."

Consumers were also surveyed about projected holiday spending this year. Eleven percent plan to do most of their holiday shopping on Cyber Monday, while 48 percent plan to avoid Black Friday shopping in favor of shopping online. When it comes to how much people plan to spend this holiday season, 27 percent said they would spend more online this year for gifts compared to last year.

"This quarter's Index shows some visible signs of improvement in the online retail sector," says Beth Robertson, Director of Payments Research for Javelin Strategy & Research. "We haven't seen a projected increase in anticipated spending since this time last year. And it comes just in time for retailers during the most important quarter for capturing sales and customers.

"Although consumers are still spending with caution, 51 percent are delaying purchases because of continued uncertainty in the economy. This increase is a positive sign that consumer confidence is on the rise."

Related Articles:

> Online Retailers To Focus On Facebook And Twitter During Holidays

> YouTube Videos In AdSense Could Drive Clicks

> More People Plan To Shop Online During The Holidays

Baidu Pummeled Following Low Forecast

Doug Caverly — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:58:56 +0000

Baidu shared its third quarter earnings report last night, and the part that actually concerned the third quarter was quite positive - the Chinese search giant reported higher revenues and profits than most experts expected. Unfortunately for the company, its forecast for the fourth quarter then caused what can only be described as panic.

We'll start with the good news, at least. Revenue rose 39 percent year over year, reaching $187.3 million. And Baidu's earnings per share numbers blew forecasts out of the water, coming in at $2.16 instead of $1.83.

It's the implementation of a new online marketing system called Phoenix Nest that is due to cause problems. When the Online Marketing Classic Edition is discontinued, Baidu expects a "temporary negative impact," and believes that fourth-quarter revenue will wind up totaling between $174 million and $180 million.

Analysts were counting on something like $203 million. That's a big difference, and competitors like Google will no doubt try to ensure Baidu never makes up the loss.

So Baidu's shares are taking a beating on the stock market today; in fact, they're down 12.79 percent at the moment. Google's shares, meanwhile, have just dipped 1.43 percent.

Related Articles:

> Google Puts Analyts' Targets, Recession In Rearview Mirror

> Google, Baidu Swap Market Share In China

> Baidu Nails Q2 Earnings Report

Microsoft Sees 14% Decline, But Remains Enthusiastic

Chris Crum — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:22:11 +0000

Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings today with a 14% decline in revenue from the same period a year ago. The company reported revenue of $12.92 billion for the quarter.

Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $4.48 billion, $3.57 billion and $0.40 per share, which represented declines of 25%, 18% and 17%, respectively, when compared with the same period last year.

The company noted that the reported financial results reflect the deferral of $1.47 billion of revenue, an impact of $0.12 of diluted earnings per share, relating to the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program and sales of Windows 7 to OEMs and retailers before general availability.

Adding back the deferred revenue, the company says, revenue totaled $14.39 billion, a 4% year-over-year decline, and EPS totaled $0.52 per share, an increase of 8% over the same period of the prior year.

"We are very pleased with our performance this quarter and particularly by the strong consumer demand for Windows," said CFO Chris Liddell. "We also maintained our cost discipline, which allowed us to drive strong earnings performance despite continued tough overall economic conditions."

The company will be looking for a much stronger report next time as the company just released Windows 7 to the public and its first retail store both this week, among other products.

"The worldwide launches of Windows 7, Exchange Server 2010 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are exciting milestones for Microsoft, our partners and customers," said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft. "We are pleased by the early positive response we are receiving for these products."

Time will tell how Windows 7, the store, and the rest really fares for the company (and Bing for that matter). The company appears quite optimistic.

Newsday To Charge For Online Access

Mike Sachoff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:28:34 +0000

Newsday said today it will begin charging $5 a week for most of its online content.

Newsday said it will start charging for access next Wednesday, except for its customers who are current home subscribers or those who are Optimum Online customers, the Internet access service offer by its parent company Cablevision.

Users who are not subscribers will still have access to some content including the newsday.com homepage, classifieds, school closings, obituaries, weather and entertainment listings.

"This groundbreaking approach to newsday.com delivers added value directly for Newsday and Optimum Online customers," said Tad Smith, president of Local Media. "Providing exclusive benefits for our customers is something Cablevision has been doing for decades, starting with the launch of News 12 in 1986."

"We look forward to growing this unique service and, with Newsday's tremendous understanding of the Long Island market, believe that newsday.com will be a terrific resource for news and information specifically tailored to the local community."

About 75 percent of Long Island households are already Newsday home delivery and /or Optimum Online customers. Cablevision's Optimum Online customers in the New York total 2.5 million households.

Newsday has been adding new features to its website over the past few months and says it will continue to offer a more personalized experience in an effort to attract new subscribers and keep the audience it already has.

eBay Hits Q3 Targets, Gives Iffy Guidance

Doug Caverly — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:25:33 +0000

eBay continued a trend started by Google and Yahoo in the sense that it beat analysts' expectations while announcing its third quarter earnings this afternoon. Unfortunately for the company, it broke with their tradition by issuing some rather weak predictions about the fourth quarter.

Let's start with the stuff that's in stone. eBay reported $2.2 billion in revenue, even though analysts though it would post $2.1 billion and it reported $120.3 million less the same quarter last year. It came out ahead in terms of earnings per share, too, posting $0.38 instead of the $0.37 analysts forecast.

These results gave president and CEO John Donahoe some room to say, "We're delivering on our commitments, executing on our plans and operating smarter and faster."

Here's the problem(s), though. Eric Savitz wrote, "For Q4, the company sees revenue of $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion; the mid-point at $2.25 billion is a hair below the Street at $2.26 billion. That suggests the company actually see a sequentially flat Q4, which is not a very encouraging view of the holiday selling season. The non-GAAP EPS guidance for the quarter is for 38-40 cents; that puts the mid-point at 39 cents a penny below the Street at 40 cents."

And shareholders are not at all happy about those numbers, selling enough of eBay's stock to send it down 5.46 percent so far in after-hours trading.

Ning Launches Virtual Gift Feature

Mike Sachoff — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:05:49 +0000

Ning, the social platform that allows users to create their own social networks introduced a virtual gifts feature today for its 1.6 million networks and 36 million registered users.

Ning Virtual Gifts offers a built-in revenue-generating feature for network creators, allowing them to create custom gifts and stores related to the topic of their network.

At launch Ning is offering each user 100 credits in their gift store account, giving them the chance to send at least one virtual gift to a fellow member. Virtual gifts for all Ning Networks will be priced at 75 credits or $1.50 per gift.

"Ning Virtual Gifts brings members new ways to express themselves around the things they care about most," said Jason Rosenthal, senior vice president of Business Operations at Ning.

"Our virtual gifts product is unique in that it can be highly relevant to the activity of each Ning Network - further empowering our Network Creators to capture their members' imagination. This is a first step in Ning building upon the inherent context in each Ning Network to drive new revenue opportunities for our Network Creators and Ning."

Ning Network Creators will have the ability to create custom virtual gifts, select their unique gift store inventory, and participate in a revenue share on the sale of virtual gifts. Transactions will be processed directly to Ning Network Creators via PayPal. Revenue will be split equally between the network creator and Ning after PayPal's transaction fees.

Yahoo Reports Big Jump In Profits

Doug Caverly — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:25:12 +0000

Although Yahoo's last few months have been defined by its deal with Microsoft and a trimming of nonessential units, the company proved today that it has a little life in a yet. Plenty of the stuff, really, as Yahoo's third quarter earnings report beat analyst's expectations.

Analysts thought Yahoo would reel in $1.5 billion in revenue. The company managed to find an extra $75 million. It then did even better in terms of net income and earnings per share, reporting $0.13 against a forecast $0.07. This represents a 225 percent year-over-year improvement, and would appear to show that the cost-cutting measures have paid off.

Carol Bartz stated as a result, "[W]e had a solid third quarter that signals our major businesses have stabilized. With new products like Yahoo! homepage, our brand revitalization campaign and expansion in the Middle East through Maktoob.com, our execution is improving and we're focused on what we do best - being the center of people's online lives."

As for the future, Yahoo thinks things will be better still in the fourth quarter, forecasting $1.6 to $1.7 billion in revenue.

Investors have responded well to all of this news, sending Yahoo's stock up an impressive 5.42 percent so far in after-hours trading.

Google Puts Analysts' Targets, Recession In Rearview Mirror

Doug Caverly — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:25:12 +0000

Experts had high expectations heading into Google's third quarter earnings report, but that was no problem for the search giant as it beat estimates in almost every way. Google's stock is now heading up in after-hours trading.

The consensus was that Google would bring in something like $4.24 billion in terms of net revenue. It posted $4.38 billion, instead. An even bigger gap was then evident in terms of non-GAAP EPS, with Google reporting $5.89 instead of $5.42. And operating expenses went down by a noticeable amount on a year-over-year basis, drifting from $1.72 billion (or 31 percent of revenues) to $1.64 billion (or 28 percent of revenues).

"Google had a strong quarter - we saw 7% year-over-year revenue growth despite the tough economic conditions," summarized Eric Schmidt in a statement. "While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future."

Google would seem to have plenty of financial freedom to do so, too, since it reported free cash flow of $2.54 billion and cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities amounting to $22.0 billion.

All in all, this makes for another very impressive quarter for Google. Its stock is up 3.19 percent at the moment as a result.

Expectations High Regarding Google's Q3 Report

Doug Caverly — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:40:47 +0000

In about 74 hours' time, Google is supposed to announce its third quarter financial results. Holding a sort of countdown seems appropriate, too, as a lot of analysts and onlookers expect that the figures will be worth celebrating.

There's something to be said for precedent, first of all; since Google's IPO in 2004, it's been very rare for the search giant to not make a positive quarterly report. A quick glance at how Google's stock has performed over the past three months also proves that the company has done all right in recent days.

Then, it's important to consider the mood of Google's CEO. In reference to the recession, Eric Schmidt recently said, "It's clear that the worst is behind us." He expressed an interest in making acquisitions on a regular basis, as well.

Finally, if you'd like to get more precise and objective about it, Eric Savitz identified six different analysts who raised their targets today. The analysts aren't random folks with access to Google Finance, either, as they represent Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Kaufman Bros., Thomas Weisel Partners, and UBS.

Google fans and shareholders may want to have their party hats and confetti at hand Thursday afternoon.

MySpace Names First Chief Financial Officer

Doug Caverly — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:35:08 +0000

When News Corp. acquired MySpace in 2005, it paid $580 million, and all sorts of large figures (the $900 million Google ad deal, for example) have been attached to the social network since. However, it's never had a chief financial officer, and this morning, MySpace changed that.

Mark Rosenbaum, the new CFO, does not appear to represent an afterthought. He starts immediately, and will indeed be in charge of all of MySpace's finance- and accounting-related operations. He'll also work out of MySpace's headquarters and report straight to CEO Owen Van Natta.

Moreover, there's his resume to consider. Rosenbaum has worked for MGM, tvguide.com, Twentieth Century Fox, and the Walt Disney Company, which means he should have plenty of experience with big corporations and the online space.

Van Natta said in a statement, "Mark understands both startup culture and mature businesses, and is well suited to guide MySpace's financial organization through its next phase of growth. We're thrilled to add someone with his pedigree and experience to the team."

That just leaves us to wonder about the timing of the development (and perhaps the phrase "next phase of growth"). It's worth considering whether MySpace is up to something big, or if Rupert Murdoch simply decided to give someone else a try at squeezing money out of it.

Digital Sky Buying More Facebook Shares

Doug Caverly — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:45:07 +0000

Two helpings of Facebook shares apparently weren't enough. Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies has gone back to the well for a third time, spending perhaps $100 million to buy still more shares in the social networking company.

Digital Sky first demonstrated its appetite for Facebook shares back in May, when it spent about $200 million acquiring a small stake. The firm next invested another $100 million in July, which netted it a total stake of 3.5 percent.

This latest push isn't likely to represent any sort of takeover effort, then, as Reuters reports that Digital Sky is still willing to value Facebook at $6.5 billion. Only one source told Reuters that Digital Sky would invest "up to" $100 million this time around, as well, so there might be less money changing hands.

Nonetheless, a Facebook shareholder also told Alexei Oreskovic, "Their appetite with me is: 'whatever you have, we'll take it,'" and that combined with the steady valuation demonstrates a fair amount of confidence in the company.

The investment is also interesting given that word of it leaked even as the Dow and the Nasdaq are already both down by more than 0.55 percent this morning.

New Forecast Downplays Importance Of Mobile Ads

Doug Caverly — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:34:59 +0000

Google and Yahoo may not want to count on their interest in the mobile market paying off anytime soon. A Bernstein analyst has forecast that, even by the time 2013 wraps up, mobile ads still won't generate much in the way of income for either company.

Jeffrey Lindsay believes that mobile ads won't supply even one-twentieth of either company's total revenue at that point. Peter Kafka reported, "He figures US mobile ads could generate $300 million for Yahoo in 2013 - about 4% of revenues."

And that's actually the more optimistic of the two cases if you concentrate on percentages and look at things from a certain angle. Kafka continued, "[H]e thinks Google, who dominates mobile search in the same way it does in the wired world, could generate $600 million - less than 2% of its revenues."

Given all of the energy that Google's poured into its mobile efforts - think search, Android, the My Location feature, and so on - it'd be interesting to know whether the search giant agrees with Lindsay's estimates and is just planning for the long-term, or is counting on things turning out better than he expects.

Anyway, if you're interested in a broader perspective, Lindsay predicted that mobile ads would be worth $2.2 billion all together in 2013.

eBay CEOs Slammed For Compensation Excess

Doug Caverly — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:52:58 +0000

eBay investors who are wondering where their money's gone may be within their rights to hit up former CEO Meg Whitman and current chief exec John Donahoe for a few bucks. This morning, Eric Jackson outlined some questionable compensation strategies that have seen both individuals take home a lot of money and also use a large amount for personal travel expenses.

Jackson, who is the founder and president of Ironfire Capital, wrote, "I believe Whitman deserves every nickel of compensation and stock sale proceeds she got between her joining the company in 1998 and Jan. 1, 2005. Since then, however, eBay has been in a tailspin with the stock down 59% vs. a Nasdaq decline of 3% over the same period."

During that same timespan, Whitman's total annual compensation headed in the opposite direction, increasing by about 379 percent and reaching $13.9 million. Also, eBay shareholders had to pay about $1.8 million for Whitman's personal aircraft costs in 2006 and 2007.

eBay shareholders can't exactly breathe a sigh of relief now that Whitman's gone, either. Jackson wrote, "Donahoe racked up almost $280,000 worth of personal aircraft expenses in his first nine months on the job in 2008," and later added, "Donahoe made $13.1 million last year for his nine months as CEO, while eBay's stock dropped 55%, far wider than Nasdaq's 30% loss in that same period."

Meanwhile, eBay's stock is down a tiny bit this morning, and a fresh report indicates that a number of Microsoft executives have actually taken pay cuts based on their company's performance.

Online Advertising is Having a Big Year

Chris Crum — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:28:53 +0000

Things are looking great for the online advertising industry. Several recent reports share data that is quite optimistic for the industry as a whole.

eMarketer points to research from GroupM, which claims that digital spending will be at 17% of total US ad spending in 2010. This would be an increase from 15.4% this year and 13.9% in 2008. GroupM also predicts 4% growth in US online ad spending in 2009, to $22.77 billion.

The firm says that growth will increase to 7% next year, and worldwide, online spending will climb 9% this year, and make it back to double-digit growth in 2010. eMarketer provides the following graph:

GroupM also says worldwide spending will rise to $58.17 billion this year with online taking 13.2% of total ad dollars. GroupM predicts that share will increase to 14.6% next year.

The firm attributes the growth to increases in spending on search and mobile, as well as declining spending in traditional media. They say Internet spending outperformed all other media channels during the recession, with video particularly becoming a big force.

In the UK, online advertising expenditure grew 4.6% to £1.75 billion in the first half of the year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Online overtook television for the first time, to become the UK's largest advertising medium. The IAB says ad expenditure online is up £82m to a record market share of 23.5%.

"The UK remains the world leader in terms of market share for online, with the medium accounting for 23.5% in the first half of 2009," says the IAB. "The results signal a significant restructure of marketing budgets as advertisers follow their audiences online and look to the Internet for even more measurable and accountable methods."

For more details about the incredible growth of online advertising in the UK, read the IAB's report here.

Nielsen recently released data finding that social networks accounted for 17% of all time spent on the Web in August. This was quite an increase from 6% in 2008. Advertising spending on the top social networking and blogging sites more than doubled in August, jumping to $108 million from about $49 million in August of 2008.

WebProNews discussed more details from Nielsen's report here.

Google's Financials Praised Yet Again

Doug Caverly — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:42:33 +0000

Don't be surprised if you get a sense of dj vu while reading this article; except for a few details, the development it covers is the same as something that happened last week. An RBC analyst has essentially followed in the footsteps of a Barclays analyst and improved his forecast for Google's stock.

RBC's Ross Sandler spoke to some industry sources, and Dan Frommer reports, "[H]e thinks Google's overall net revenue could grow 5.5% quarter-over-quarter, up from his previous estimate of 3%." That's a pretty significant increase of about 83 percent.

There's a considerable amount of evidence to support the idea of a revision, too. For starters, you might just take a look at this Google Finance graph.

Sandler also indicated that the UK search market is at least holding steady, Germany's market is up "mid single digits," and France is doing better still. Note: Google's quite dominant in all three countries.

It's shaping up to be an excellent third quarter for Google, then. And if the search giant pulls off what analysts consider to be a "win," the achievement will be all the more impressive given that the overall economy still isn't in such great shape.

Twitter Traffic Slows as Money Increases

Chris Crum — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:20:58 +0000

You might say Twitter is "in the money." As WebProNews previously reported, Twitter has been raising funds at a $1 billion valuation. Twitter CEO Evan Williams wrote on the Twitter Blog today:

There's a lot of talk today about our financing. Yesterday we closed a significant round of funding with a group of investment firms that we're excited to publicly thank: Insight Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Morgan Stanley.

It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value. Twitter's journey has just begun and we are committed to building the best product, technology, and company possible. I'm proud of the team we've built so far and I'm confident in the future we'll build together.

Internet research firm Hitwise Intelligence has taken a look at Twitter traffic, to see if the visitors match the hype.

While the graph above doesn't count Twitter use via mobile devices and third-party app (which certainly account for a lot of Twitter's use), Hitwise notes that visits to Twitter.com should still show some correlation to new use adoption.

Hitwise also tracked the number of searches on Twitter (below). Both visits and searches at Twitter.com hit what Hitwise refers to as a "resistance point" in April.

Finally, Hitwise looks at reports for Twitter's top traffic sources, comparing April to last week. The charts reveal a significant drop between the two.

It's hard to really put Twitter use into perspective without some kind of stats that reflect mobile and third-party app use. The slowing traffic growth is interesting though. It's hard to believe that it is occurring, considering that you can't turn on the television or radio without hearing about some new celebrity discovering Twitter. Perhaps Pee Wee Herman will inject some good traffic for this month's numbers.

Barclays Analyst Upgrades Google

Doug Caverly — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:48:18 +0000

Twitter's financial affairs may be receiving a lot of attention today, but at least one analyst hasn't forgotten about the search and advertising giant we all usually watch. In fact, Doug Anmuth of Barclays Capital decided to upgrade his estimates for Google this morning.

Anmuth's price target is now set at $575.00, which would represent an increase of about 16.2 percent over Google's current standing at $494.97. That's a nice gain, especially given the still-iffy state of the overall economy.

Anmuth wasn't just making up comforting numbers, though. If you look at the graph below (which comes courtesy of Google Finance), it becomes hard to dispute the idea that Google's stock is on the mend after hitting a three-year low of $247.30 in November.

Moreover, while adjusting his forecast, Anmuth cited "[i]mproving macro conditions, a stronger ad market, & FX tailwinds" in addition to some industry scuttlebutt, according to Dan Frommer.

Unfortunately for existing shareholders and/or Google fans, it just doesn't look like the climb to $575 is going to start today - Google's stock is down 0.36 percent at the moment in rough accordance with the rest of the market.

The Web Weighs In On Twitter's $1 Billion Valuation

Doug Caverly — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:58:29 +0000

We first reported that Twitter was raising funds at a $1 billion valuation eight days ago. Since then, the amount of money Twitter's supposed to be raising has doubled, and more details about who's supplying the cash have surfaced. As you might imagine, all of this has generated quite a lot of discussion.

What are your thoughts on Twitter's reported $1 billion valuation? Let us know.

Below, we'll try to provide a roundup of people's reactions. Fair warning: incredulous takes appear to outweigh supportive ones by a significant margin. And also, in case you've missed all of the big headlines, here are the latest facts as reported by the Wall Street Journal: Twitter is raising $100 million from investors including T. Rowe Price.

As for responses, Jason Fried's Onion-like comeback is perhaps getting the most attention. In a fake press release, he wrote, "37signals is now a $100 billion dollar company, according to a group of investors who have agreed to purchase 0.000000001% of the company in exchange for $1." The piece has received more than 160 comments, most of which amount to pats on the back.

Then there's the observation of Dan Frommer and Kamelia Angelova to consider. In an article titled "Twitter Raises Cash Pile As Traffic Growth Slows," they noted, "During August, the company attracted 55 million unique visitors (worldwide) to Twitter.com, according to comScore. That's up about 3 million, or 6%, over July. That's solid, but nothing like its go-go month of April, when it grew by 13 million uniques (~70% m/m) or June, when it grew by 7 million uniques (~20% m/m)."

Still, there were some neutral and even positive remarks about the investment round. David Carr just went for a sort of comedic approach with the following tweet:

Then Larry Dignan raised a very good point about T. Rowe Price's involvement. "This mutual fund firm, which I know well, isn't exactly a run-and-gun investment house," he wrote. "These folks play long term and tout planning for the long run."

So perhaps Twitter's strategy to make money - which at this point, may consist of selling premium accounts and/or data analytics services, along with introducing ads - is further along than most critics thought. Anyway, we'd be interested to hear your opinions concerning the $1 billion valuation in the comments section below.

Americans Favor Online Banking

Mike Sachoff — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:42:44 +0000

For the first time more Americans (25%) prefer to do their banking online compared to any other method, according to a new survey by the American Bankers Association.

"This marks a watershed change," said Nessa Feddis, ABA senior counsel and retail banking expert.

"It tells us that for the first time, more consumers prefer the speed and convenience of conducting their banking transactions on the Internet than visiting their local branch. It also tells us that consumers now have confidence in the accuracy and security of online banking," she added.

The survey found the popularity of online banking was not just among the youngest consumers. Banking online was the preferred method for all bank customers under the age of 55. Consumes over 55 still favor visiting their local branch (26%), followed by ATMs (17%).

Among all consumers, the preference for online banking was followed by visiting branches (21%), and using ATMs (17%). The use of mobile banking was favored by one percent of consumers, mainly among 18 to 34 year olds. The popularity of ATMs was down in all age groups.

"Online banking may now be the most preferred method of banking but banks are committed to providing the best customer service to all consumers," said Feddis.

"Increasing competitive focus means bank customers will continue to have the choice between branches, ATMs, telephone, cell phone, or the Internet to conduct their transactions - whichever they find most convenient for them."

Sun Losing $100 Million a Month as Oracle Waits

Chris Crum — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:57:31 +0000

Sun Microsystems is losing about $100 million a month according to Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the company that's set to acquire Sun. Oracle is waiting to get clearance from European regulators before the deal can go through and Oracle can step in and try to put an end to this loss.

Though understandably frustrated, Ellison is optimistic about the deal being approved. He conveyed this to his audience in a speech at a Churchill Club event in San Jose last night.

If money is really being lost at the rate Ellison says, you have to think he is tapping his foot quite rapidly. This is after all a $7.4 billion deal, and $100 million a month is not exactly small potatoes.

The deal was announced back in April. Oracle would acquire Sun for $7.4 billion at a rate of $9.50 per share in cash. The two companies have been long-term partners, for over 20 years. The acquisition was originally expected to close sometime in the summer, and it was unanimously approved by Sun's board of directors, but they're still waiting on the EU to approve it.

The longer it takes to get the deal approved (assuming it does eventually get approved), the more jobs could be in jeopardy. "Analysts have predicted Oracle will have to make major cuts in Sun's workforce and spending, to achieve its goal of increasing operating profit from Sun's business," notes Brandon Bailey at Mercury News. "Some analysts have said an extended delay could lead Oracle to cut more deeply, since uncertainty over Sun's future may be driving more customers to rivals such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM."

The EU is worried that Oracle acquiring MySQL would discourage competition, but Ellison maintains that it would do no such thing. He says that Oracle has no intention of spinning that unit off, which would greatly improve the chances of getting the deal approved.

The EU says that it may take until January to complete its review of the deal. If Sun keeps losing money at the same rate, the deal may look significantly soured.

Twitter Raising Funds At $1 Billion Valuation

Doug Caverly — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:52:54 +0000

In February, Twitter turned more than a few heads by raising $35 million at a $250 million valuation. Now, people should be careful that they don't break their figurative necks, since the company's reportedly upped the ante by raising around $50 million at a $1 billion valuation.

Crazy as it may sound to some folks, the rumor's almost certain to be true. Michael Arrington received word of it from several sources, and so did Peter Kafka. Plus, Biz Stone tweeted last night that he'd spent part of the day in a board meeting.

Then you have to consider that some experts believe Twitter's worth much more than $1 billion. (Robert Scoble considers the company worth $5 billion to $10 billion, for example.)

So let's look at the ramifications of Twitter's $1 billion valuation. It implies that Twitter's backers think the site will continue to grow at a ferocious pace. They must be confident that achieving a profit's possible, too, and they can't view direct competitors - as well as Facebook - as much of a threat.

Anyway, Arrington reported that Insight Venture Partners, which has invested in companies like Divx, Hitwise, and Newegg, is leading the funding round.

Adobe Seeks to Expand its Analytics Horizons

Chris Crum — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:45:02 +0000

Omniture, one of the biggest names in web analytics, is being acquired by Adobe, in a transaction valued at $1.8 billion. Adobe will commence a tender offer to acquire all Ominture outstanding stock for $21.50 per share in cash.

"Adobe customers are looking to us for solutions to deliver engaging experiences and more effectively monetize their content and applications online," says Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe. "This is a game changer for both Adobe and our customers. We will enable advertisers, media companies and e-tailers to realize the full value of their digital assets."

Adobe says the deal will enable advertisers, ad agencies, publishers, and e-tailers to achieve greater ROI from their digital investments while improving the end users' experience.

Some (not everybody) simply think that Omniture was out of ideas. SeeWhy Founder Charles Nicholls, who is a 20-year veteran of the software, BI and analytics industry, recently attended the Web Analytics XChange conference, where John Pestana (a founder and current Director of Omniture), Brett Crosby (Urchin/Google), Matt Cutler (founder of NetGenesis), and Bob Page (co-founder of Accrue, now a Yahoo!) each spoke.

"The consensus, if there was one, was that the industry was approaching maturity, and there was some speculation that the next generation of web analytics was on the horizon, just about to disrupt the status quo," says Nicholls. "Revolutionary in nature, and built for today’s ecommerce challenges, the new generation would brush away the old."

"Little did we know what John Pestana already knew," he adds. "...that a few days later Omniture would be acquired for $1.8bn, a signal that the industry is rapidly approaching maturity and maybe even a wave of consolidation as we saw in October 2007 in the Business Intelligence industry."

Either way, Omniture is Adobe's now, and the company sees the acquisition as one that will significantly expand its addressable market and growth potential in the online advertising and e-commerce industries.

Facebook Has Nearly Same Amount of People as US

Chris Crum — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:22:07 +0000

Update: Ok, they've officially announced the testing of the prototypes directory now. From the company blog:

Facebook Prototypes let us share the experimentation going on inside the walls of Facebook with the rest of the world. You'll be able to test any of the products and features we launch as Facebook Prototypes and then provide feedback directly to those of us who built them. To access Prototypes, visit the Application Directory and filter by "Prototypes." From there, you can activate or download any of the Prototypes listed.

Original Article: Facebook announced today that not only has it surpassed the 300 million-user mark, but the company is now making money. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and the company said earlier this year that it would happen next year.

Apparently they're ahead of schedule, because according to Founder Mark Zuckerberg, they became cash flow positive last quarter. "This is important to us because it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term," he said.

"Over time, Facebook will continue to be as strong as all of the connections you make," Zuckerberg added. "We'll continue building new and better things to make connecting with the people you care about as easy and rewarding as possible."

Back to that 300 million number. To put this into perspective, the official 2008 population for the entire United States of America was just over 304 million. That's a lot of people on one social network.

Now look at some of the things that have been going on with Facebook just in the last month or so:

- They acquired FriendFeed

- They Launched their real-time search

- They began letting people sell physical goods with their payments platform

- They expanded their staff by 50%

- They've been testing a new ads manager and made ads a little more advertiser-friendly

- They've been testing a new kind of engagement ad

- They've taken steps to increase users' sharing

- They announced a milestone of 65 million active mobile users

- They've hinted at click through rate metrics for Pages

- They have a Google labs-like prototype directory in the works

- They've added tagging to the status update

- They're said to be creeping in on LinkedIn's territory in the recruiting department

- They launched Facebook Lite

- They open sourced the FriendFeed web server

And that's just some of the things the company has been up to in the last little while. Suffice it to say, there's a lot going on with Facebook, and this social network has nearly the same amount of people using it as there are registered citizens in the US...and now they're making money.

Facebook's future is looking pretty bright right now. It will be interesting to see what they accomplish in another month's time. A year's...

Yahoo Exchanges Alibaba.com Stake For $150M

Doug Caverly — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:47:10 +0000

Yahoo should soon have about $150 million more to its name. By selling 57.48 million shares, the Sunnyvale-based company is liquidating its stake in Chinese business-to-business site Alibaba.com and collecting a tidy profit.

Yahoo acquired its 1.14 percent stake in Alibaba.com during the company's initial public offering in 2007. Now, Reuters reports that Yahoo will sell the stake at a 4.0-6.4 percent discount on Alibaba's most recent closing price.

That might indicate that Yahoo's in a bit of a hurry; there's a definite concern, at least, about how both Yahoo and Alibaba.com shareholders will interpret its move. (A relevant note: Yahoo's stock is already down 1.22 percent this morning). But even after the discount, Yahoo should realize a profit of 47 percent or more, which makes its investment look like a good one.

Here's another important detail: Yahoo is holding onto its 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com's parent company, Alibaba Group, so it's not getting out of China or anything of the sort.

John Spelich, a vice president at Alibaba Group, also stated, "We are pleased to learn of the Yahoo! decision because having broader ownership of Alibaba.com with increased liquidity and support among institutional investors is what Alibaba.com hoped to achieve when it released the cornerstone investors."

Americans Turn To The Internet To Forget The Economy

Mike Sachoff — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:48:44 +0000

Americans who go online for economic information are also using the Internet to take their minds off of the recession, according to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Pew identified a group it calls "online economic users" which includes 69 percent of all American adults and 88 percent of all Internet users.

The report found that 74 percent of online economic users turn to the Internet to help get their minds off recent economic or financial problems. The most common activities were watching online video (54%), listening to music (50%), playing online games (37%), chatting with friends (33%), and creating or posting content online (22%).

The youngest online economic users (those ages 18-29) are significantly more likely than any other age groups to engage in a variety of online relaxation activities. The most popular activity was watching online video (74%), listening to music online (73%) and playing games online (52%).

Other highlights include:

46% of online economic users who go online as a diversion have also gone online to find or use online coupons.
26% have sold personal items on an online auction site.
15% have signed up online for automatic updates about economic or financial issues, and an additional 15% have tagged or categorized online content related to economic or financial issues.
13% have shared photos, videos or audio files about economic or financial issues.