Anti-trust regulators won't allow 'a deal', but share holders won't allow for 'no deal'. Stalemate. Who wins?

My take on the Google earnings beat and what it means about Google as a company and its future. Also, a look back at what caused the stock to shed 40% in value despite the fact that its business fundamentals have not changed.

Nobody really gave much thought as to why Google's growth in paid clicks was stagnating, the common assumption being that the economy was in a funk, and Google had no more room to grow at present. Appears that there are other, and valid, reasons.

With the ridiculous news coming out of comscore a few weeks back the stock was punished for comscore's paid click data. Google though had already told us that they were reducing bad clicks and that there click data could suffer, but that it would generate higher revenue per paid click. Obviously they were correct and comscore now has zero credibility!

Google's first-quarter profit climbed 30%, earning $1.31 billion, or $4.12 per share, during the first three months of the year. That compared with $1 billion, or $3.18 per share, in the first quarter of 2007. If not for expenses to cover stock given its employees, Google said it would have made $4.84 per share.

Analysts, on average, projected $4.52 per share.

Google is doing everything possible to make Microsofts job hard in this takeover. Google has agreed to help out Yahoo by participating in an unusual test that will gauge how much more advertising Google can sell for Yahoo!

The two-week experiment will be limited to ads posted alongside a small percentage of Yahoo's online search results in the United States.

In what could be considered the ultimate white flag of surrender Yahoo has agreed to begin using Google's Adsense for search to help boost it's revenue and fend off an increasingly hostile Microsofty. Even though this test is small at only 3% of search queries in The United States, just the fact that Yahoo is considering such a move shows you how much of a lead Google has on Yahoo's ad platform.

"Yahoo!

"When Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page wanted a C.E.O. for their rapidly growing company in 2001, they turned to a technology executive, Eric Schmidt, who had previously worked at Sun Microsystems and Novell. Coincidentally, Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo were also looking for a C.E.O. that year, and they picked a Hollywood insider: Terry Semel, who had run Warner Bros."

The rumor mill is churning strong around Google and two rumored deals.

With the drop in Google's stock price over the past few months the question of how much Google Checkout could help the results next quarter comes to mind. After all, Google was literally giving it away for free for the past year, and it was one hell of a expensive promotion from the sounds of it!

Excerpt from the article says it best: "There’s been so much commentary on the proposed mega merger, it borders on overwhelming. Anyone with an inkling of insight on tech and an opinion is weighing in while we all wait for the next dose of fact to supplant innuendo. While I wait, one wonder keeps hitting me: is Microsoft’s collective head in the cloud?

Google fourth quarter profit missed expectations putting a major dent in the search giant. The company earned $1.21 billion, or $3.79 per share, during the final three months of 2007.

Well if you are a long term investor no, but the short term could be a little rough as people digest the numbers. First of all, let me just say that most companies would kill for these kind of numbers, but Google is not most companies.

Following Microsoft and Google, Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) is officially coming to Israel - with a bang. The search engine’s penetration plan has two fronts: opening an R&D center in Haifa and entering the content business through an agreement with Walla!