Google is making everyone who snubbed its unconventional initial public offering of stock regret their decision. In the latest rebuke to its skeptics, Google wowed Wall Street with its first quarterly earnings report as a public company, propelled by a continued surge in online advertising distributed by its internet-leading search engine.
The quarter offered Google (GOOG) the first chance to demonstrate how the company held up during a much-scrutinized IPO that has turned hundreds of its employees into millionaires. Investors were impressed with what they saw: Shares of Google surged 12 percent in early Friday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The enthusiastic reaction reflects Google's robust revenue and earnings growth during the third quarter. Google said it would have earned 70 cents per share, if not for charges related to stock-based employee compensation and a previously announced patent settlement with rival Yahoo.
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Yahoo ramps up: Yahoo appeared to move a step closer to challenging Google in searchable web mail, acquiring the startup behind the powerful e-mail application Bloomba.
It was Yahoo's second purchase this year of an e-mail startup following the July acquisition of Oddpost.
Bloomba was launched last year by San Mateo, California-based Stata Labs. Many analysts praised it as being more nimble and elegant than Microsoft's Outlook, but doubted Bloomba could survive without a larger patron.
That's exactly what Stata Labs found in Yahoo (YHOO), said the company's namesake, co-founder and chief technology officer.
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Brace yourself, PeopleSoft: European Union regulators will decide whether Oracle's hostile $7.7 billion bid for rival business software concern PeopleSoft can proceed. The ruling on the proposed takeover would be two weeks earlier than expected.
If the European Union approves the merger, it will clear a major hurdle in the takeover Oracle (ORCL) has planned for one of its few rivals in the business software market. Regulators had earlier said they planned to announce their ruling on Nov. 9, and it was not immediately clear why the date of the decision had been moved up.
The U.S. Justice Department had initially opposed a merger between the two companies, but that decision was reversed by an American court.
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__Microsoft still strong, for now: __ Microsoft reported healthy earnings and revenue growth for its fiscal first quarter, but investors instead focused on concerns about prospects for long-term corporate contracts and the long wait for a new version of the company's dominant Windows operating system.
Microsoft (MSFT) sought to downplay the corporate contracts issue. The chief financial officer said investors who focus on a quarterly financial barometer that relates to such contracts "have missed the bigger picture."
Those numbers, which reflect contracts that are signed but not entirely recognizable as revenue immediately, have declined sharply. That raises concerns the company doesn't have a major new product available to lure corporate customers into renewing long-term contracts.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
