Cant wait to short this overevaluated pos..... pe is ridiculous, feel sorry for the sheep who go long here i think it will continue up , but when its time to short be ready.
just like msft this will come to a end, after irrational exuberance wears off
Cant wait to short this overevaluated pos..... pe is ridiculous, feel sorry for the sheep who go long here i think it will continue up , but when its time to short be ready.
just like msft this will come to a end, after irrational exuberance wears off
aimho
prince_among_thieves, if you think google is going to go down big time, perhaps maybe there will be a new search engine that will reap with success? Seth
Google Criticizes Gov't Demand to Examine Users' Search Requests, Says Threatens to Reveal Secrets
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. on Friday criticized the Bush administration's demand to examine millions of its users' Internet search requests as a misguided fishing expedition that threatens to ruin the company's credibility and reveal its closely guarded secrets. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company delivered its indignant critique in a 25-page brief that marked its initial legal response to the U.S. Justice Department's attempt to force the online search engine leader to comply with a 6-month-old subpoena.
The Justice Department has until Feb. 24 to respond to the papers that Google filed Friday. A hearing for oral arguments is scheduled March 13 before U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif.
The case has attracted widespread attention because the Justice Department's demand to peek under the hood of the Internet's most popular search engine has underscored the potential for online databases becoming tools for government surveillance.
Hoping to revive an online child protection law that has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department wants a random list of the search requests made by the millions of people who visit Google during any week.
The government believes the search requests will help prove that Internet filters aren't strong enough to prevent children from accessing online pornography and other potentially offensive Web sites.
Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Inc.'s MSN and Time Warner Inc.'s American Online already have provided some of the search engine information sought by the Justice Department. All three companies say they complied without relinquishing their users' private information.
But Google has steadfastly refused to hand over the requested information, a defiant stance that the company reaffirmed in a brief that depicts the Bush administration as heavy-handed snoops and technological rubes.
In one particularly scathing section, Google's lawyers ridiculed the government's belief that a list of search requests would help it understand the behavior of Web surfers.
"This statement is so uninformed as to be nonsensical," the lawyers wrote.
Although the Justice Department says it doesn't want any of the personal information, Google contends its cooperation would set off privacy alarms and scare away some of the traffic that has driven its success.
"If users believe that the text of their search queries into Google's search engine may become public knowledge, it only logically follows that they will be less likely to use the service," Google's lawyers wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is opposing the Bush administration's effort to revive the online child protection law, also filed a brief Friday in support of Google.
"This subpoena is the latest example of government overreaching, in which the government apparently believes it can demand that private entities turn over all sorts of information about their customers just because the government asserts that it needs the information," the ACLU's lawyers wrote.
Google also said it doubts the government would be available to shield the requested information from public scrutiny. The company maintains the data sought by the government could provide its rivals and Web site operators with valuable insights about how its search engine works.
As it battles the Justice Department, Google is cooperating with China's Communist government by censoring some of the search results that the company produces in a country that restricts free speech.
That odd juxtaposition has caused civil rights activists to applaud Google for defying the U.S. government while the champions of human rights and free speech jeer the company for bending to China's will.
Growth Concerns Push Down Google Stock Tuesday February 28, 8:14 pm ET By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer Google Stock Plunges After CFO Raises Growth Concerns, Says Keeping Growth Pace Will Be Difficult
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc.'s shares plummeted by as much as 13 percent Tuesday after the company's chief financial officer raised the specter of slower earnings growth -- a remark that soured recent investor enthusiasm that had been building for the Internet's leading search engine. The latest in a series of abrupt downturns in Google's stock followed CFO George Reyes' answer to a question during an investor conference hosted by Merrill Lynch in New York.
After hailing the results of an 18-month effort to boost advertising revenue, Reyes predicted it will become increasingly difficult for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google to maintain its rapid growth pace.
"Most of what's left is just organic growth, which means you have to find ways to grow your traffic," Reyes said. "Clearly, our growth rates are slowing, and you see that each and every quarter."
Reyes later put a more positive spin on his remarks. "I am not turning bearish at all," he said near the end of a 45-minute session that was Webcast. "I think we have a lot of growth ahead of us. I think it's just a question of at what rate."
The comments still spooked Wall Street, which had only just recently recovered from the disappointment of fourth-quarter results that provided a firsthand look at Google's slackening growth.
Google's shares plunged by as much as $51.87, or 13 percent, on the Nasdaq Stock Market immediately after Reyes' comments, but then recovered as investors digested his remarks. The shares wound up shedding $27.76, or 7.1 percent, to close at $362.62 on the Nasdaq. The stock, which went public 18 months ago at $85 per share, peaked at $475.11 in early January.
The downturn prompted Google to release a statement assuring investors the company still sees "significant opportunities" for revenue growth.
Tuesday's harsh backlash reminded investors of the extreme volatility of Google's stock -- an offshoot of the company's steadfast refusal to make financial projections or share many details about its strategy.
Google's tightlipped approach tends to provoke dramatic reactions to both good news and bad news, said American Technology Research analyst Rob Sanderson.
"We are all playing a bit of guessing game with Google," Sanderson said. "If there is no guidance coming from a company, it makes people nervous. (Google) made their bed with their own unconventional policies and now they have to lie in it."
Investors' opinions of Google have been particularly fickle since the company's fourth-quarter earnings fell far below analyst expectations a month ago.
The company's stock initially fell as investors fretted about Google's slowing growth. Those worries were compounded by concerns about the possible fallout from a legal battle with the Bush administration over a subpoena for users' search requests and a political furor over Google's censorship of its search results in China to comply with the country's free-speech restrictions.
Google's stock had been bouncing back since mid-February as the company continued to introduce more services and investors began to anticipate more positive developments when management meets with industry analysts Thursday.
Given the upcoming analyst meeting, the timing of Reyes' remarks was especially frustrating, said David Garrity, director of research for Investec.
As they dumped Google's stock, investors seemingly ignored newly released data showing the company's search engine continues to widen its lead over its biggest rivals. Processing more search requests is vital for Google because it gives the company more opportunities to display the ads that account for most of its profit.
Google ended January with a 41.4 percent share of the U.S. search engine market, up from 40 percent in December, according to comScore Media Metrix. Yahoo Inc.'s share declined to 28.7 percent in January, dipping from 29.5 percent December, while Microsoft Corp.'s MSN held a 13.7 percent share, dropping from 24.3 percent in the prior month.
Reyes' remarks echoed previous Google warnings issued to remind investors that the company is unlikely to maintain its robust growth pace as it matures. Driven by a rise in online advertising as its Internet search engine became more popular, Google's annual revenue has increased by nearly 14-fold in three years, swelling from $440 million in 2002 to $6.1 billion in 2005.
"We are getting to the point where the law of large numbers start to take root," Reyes said Tuesday. "At the end of the day, growth will slow. Will it be precipitous? I doubt it."
Google Executives Exude Optimism, Say in Analysts' Meeting That There's Lots of Room for Growth
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. provided stock market analysts with more color about its secretive operations Thursday, painting a bright picture that appeared aimed at defusing growth concerns raised by the search engine leader's chief financial officer earlier this week. The meeting gave Google a chance to address recent complaints that it doesn't share enough information to its shareholders, maintaining a tightlipped approach that has recently contributed to wild price swings in its stock price.
The most recent jolt occurred earlier this week after Google CFO George Reyes warned the company probably can't do much more to improve upon the advertising formula that has been driving its rapid revenue growth.
Google executives seemed determine to reverse that perception during a 4 1/2-hour meeting held at its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters.
In his opening remarks, Google CEO Eric Schmidt assured the roomful of analysts that he sees "tremendous headroom" to develop an even more effective advertising approach.
Schmidt underscored his optimism at one point by saying Google someday might generate $100 billion in annual revenue as it expands into a variety of new advertising channels, including television, radio and publishing. The 7-year-old company's revenue totaled $6.1 billion last year.
"Our assessment is we are in the strongest position that we have ever been," Schmidt said later in the day.
Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's senior vice president of product management, echoed some of Schmidt's remarks during his presentation. After noting that Google had already improved the relevance of its ads, Rosenberg emphasized there are "still many, many gains to be made there."
The upbeat remarks contrasted with Reyes' cautious commentary during a question-and-answer session at a Tuesday investor conference in New York. At that time, Reyes cited the difficulty that Google would have improving its advertising formula and advised the company's growth rate was bound to slow down -- a prospect that set off alarms among investors and caused Google's stock price to drop precipitously.
Google's stock rebounded Thursday, apparently lifted by the confident tone of management's remarks, which were Webcast live.
The company's shares gained $11.65, or 3.2 percent, to close at $376.45 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then added another $5.67 in extended trading. Despite the rally, Google's stock remained about 4 percent below its value before Reyes raised the specter of slower growth.
Without referring to his earlier comments, Reyes accentuated the positive Thursday. As he showed a chart depicting Google's 92 percent increase in revenue last year, Reyes said, "This is a pretty darn impressive set of numbers. We are very proud of what we have accomplished."
As they tried to address investor worries, Google's executives stuck to the company's prohibition against making financial projections -- an edict mandated by company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Despite those restraints, Google still managed to serve up more insights than a year ago when it held its first major investment meeting as a publicly traded company.
During last year's session, Google exasperated analysts by devoting a substantial amount of time discussing the quantity of free food it feeds its employees.
This time around, Google fed the analysts with more numbers, although the company continued to skimp on the specifics.
Reyes told analysts that Google's capital spending this year will be substantially higher than last year's $838 million investment. He indicated most of the money will be spent increasing Google's already formidable computing power so it can deliver more products and servers to Web surfers.
Google also plans to continue a hiring spree that expanded the company's payroll by an average of 7 new employees per day last year. Reyes said much of the hiring will be concentrated outside the United States as Google continues to expand internationally.
In another development, Schmidt identified Microsoft Corp. as the rival that most worries Google because of the way the world's largest software maker has aggressively attacked other technology upstarts in the past.
Microsoft currently runs the Internet's third most popular search engine, ranking behind both Google and Yahoo Inc., but it has vowed to close the gap by improving its technology and luring new users by giving away free merchandise and services.
Schmidt also said there's no sign that the prices to advertise on Google's network have peaked -- another factor that bodes well for the company's future profits.
What do you guys think of google? It seems to be on the verge of a solid climb as of late. Right now, Google is ranked 39'th overall in traffic levels when compared to all of the sites on the internet. If google took over yahoo for the number 1 traffic ranking on the internet, that would be huge. They've got a ways to go, but I think with their prooven success that it's definitely attainable.
What do you guys think of google? It seems to be on the verge of a solid climb as of late. Right now, Google is ranked 39'th overall in traffic levels when compared to all of the sites on the internet. If google took over yahoo for the number 1 traffic ranking on the internet, that would be huge. They've got a ways to go, but I think with their prooven success that it's definitely attainable.
i have been keeping an eye for google for a while but i wouldnt keep my eyes of them I hear they are coming out with a whole bunch of new things although a bit high it might be worth looking into
another good day for GOOG. Up $1.13 (.30%) so far today. I think GOOG will do better than many expect. I'll admit, the market price is extremely high, but I definitely like GOOG when it comes to their agressive business strategy and future company plans.
A judge ruled earlier today that Google does have to give up some of their information, in that the government will know how many of their users go to porn sites, and how many clicks those sites get, in hopes of finding out if the porn sites meet government regulations and impliment the law that only adults may enter the sites. However, Google does not have to give up any of their users personal information.
Logged
Male
Female
