Google very exposed to US recession
From the Silicon Alley insider, comes a well argued case for the exposure of Google to a US “recession”. It correlates with the Google efforts to block the Microsoft Yahoo merger and a reported, not seasonally adjusted, decline in the rate of growth of Facebook and other social networking sites in the first months of ’08. The time is coming for some of Google’s applications groups to start generating real cash for the parent firm.
$44.6 Million … Yahoo …
You have a lot of cash stock is cheap oh and your under pressure on a couple of fronts from Google, sounds like time to on the acquisition trail. Yahoo was cheap, but the premium offered by Microsoft indicates how important it is for Msft to get in the advertising game.
Scuttle had it last week that Yahoo were hot on the trail of Maven who provide video hosting and distribution services for Gannett, Hearst, Fox News, Sony BMG, the Financial Times, Univision, TV Guide among others. This could begin to put it up to Google, should the Yahoo board accept the offer assuming the two organizations could get it together in time.
However you cannot rule out a couple of Google acquisitions in the next couple of weeks, especially when they report difficulties in “monetizing their advertising model on social networks” the need for high value clicks is an imperative based on the model they have built.