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Google: Massive Growth
Google specializes in Internet search and online advertising. The company is based in Mountain View, California, and has more than 15,000 full-time employees. Google reported revenues of $4.8 bn for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, representing a 51% increase over the $4.2 bn reported for the corresponding quarter in 2006. The net profit for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $1.2 bn as compared to $1 bn for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. During the quarter, Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.1 bn.

Google launched new features to its Google Analytics Web service such as site search reporting and event tracking, and an updated version of Urchin software. The Nielsen Company and Google also signed a multi-year, strategic relationship.

Also, during the quarter, Google announced the release of OpenSocial, a set of common APIs for building social applications across the Web. The release of OpenSocial marks the first time that multiple social networks have been made accessible under a common API to make development and distribution easier and more efficient for developers. Currently, the stock trades at $481.7.

Baidu: Stellar Growth
Baidu is a leading Chinese search engine. It has an employee base of 3,113. Baidu reported revenues of $66.3 mn for the third quarter ended September 30, 2007. The net profit stood at $24.2 mn. Baidus online marketing revenues for the second quarter were $66.2 mn, representing a 108.8% increase. Active online marketing customers stood at 143,000 in the third quarter of 2007.

During the quarter, Baidu announced the formal launch of its Japanese language search engine, www.baidu.jp, run by Baidus Japanese subsidiary. The company also launched a new advertising product, Brand-Link, which will generate a range of brand-specific content when the Internet users search for the brand names which subscribe to this new product.

In a separate move, the company has also decided to enter the Chinese e-commerce market. For the fourth quarter, Baidu expects to generate revenues ranging between from $74.7-76.7 mn, representing a 106-112% increase from the corresponding period in 2006. The stock currently trades at $119.94.

Yahoo! Moderate Growth
Yahoo! is a global Internet services company. For the fourth quarter of 2007, revenues stood at $1,832 mn, an 8% increase compared to $1,702 mn for the corresponding period in 2006.

The net profit for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $206 mn compared to $269 mn for the corresponding period in 2006. Marketing services revenues stood at $1,590 mn for the fourth quarter of 2007, a 7% increase. Revenues from owned and operated sites were $1,035 mn, a 21% increase.

During the quarter, Telefnica and Yahoo! signed a global agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Telefonicas local subsidiaries agree to offer Yahoo! oneSearch as the search engine partner on their mobile portals in Ireland, Latin America, and the UK, and will also integrate Flickr and Yahoo! Mail into its portfolio of mobile Internet services.

Yahoo! and WebMD, an online health information provider, signed a multi-year search and advertising distribution agreement. Zimbra, a Yahoo! company, in open source messaging and collaboration software, also announced that more than two-hundred educational institutions have chosen the Zimbra collaboration suite in the past year. Zimbra now has more than 600,000 mailboxes at academic institutions in more than fifteen countries.

InterActiveCorp: Turns Into Red
InterActiveCorp (IAC) is an American media company that operates in diversified businesses in sectors across Internet, online and offline. IAC has more than sixty brands, operated by 20,000 employees in twenty-eight countries. The company is headquartered in New York.

For the fourth quarter of 2007, it reported $1,860 mn in revenue. The net loss stood at $370 mn for the fourth quarter. Revenues from Ticketmaster stood at $355 mn, a growth of 27%. While revenues from LendingTree stood at $42.8 mn. Brightcove, an Internet TV platform, and IAC signed a wide-ranging agreement, giving IAC businesses the opportunity to launch higher quality Internet video. Ticketmaster, Citysearch, and 23/6 are among the first IAC brands to utilize Brightcoves platform to create, manage, publish, distribute, and monetize video on the Web. ASK, a search engine and wholly owned business of IAC, launched AskEraser, the first product to give consumers privacy control over their online searches. Recently, IAC acquired a significant minority stake in the HealthCentral Network (www.healthcentral.com), a leading collection of health and wellness Web properties. The stock changes hands at $38.3.

LookSmart: Losses Increase
LookSmart is an online advertising and technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company provides solutions for advertisers, publishers, and consumers through pay-per-click (PPC) search advertising, private-label solutions, vertical search sites like www.findarticles.com and www.furl.net, among others. For the third quarter of 2007, LookSmart reported revenues of $12.6 mn, representing a 4% increase from $12.2 mn in the second quarter of 2006. The net loss for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $4.3 mn, which includes $0.6 mn of non-cash, share-based compensation charges, compared to the net loss of $3.9 mn in the second quarter of 2006.

During the quarter, LookSmart reorganized its business to focus on its advertiser networks and publisher services clients. This resulted in the decision to dispose of all the remaining consumer assets, including FindArticles, Zeal, Grub, Wisenut, and Furl. The company entered into a definitive agreement to sell the FindArticles.com property to CNET Networks in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $20.5 mn.

In addition, the company sold the remaining assets associated with its Grub property. As part of LookSmarts rationalization of its cost structure, the company successfully subleased the fourth floor of the companys headquarter facilities that will result in approximately $1.2 mn annual reduction in operating expense in 2008 and 2009, and reduced its overall workforce by approximately 25% during the quarter. For the fourth quarter, revenues are expected to increase 8-12% from the third quarter of 2006 levels. The stock currently trades at $4.92.

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