Apr 14, 2011 at 5:03pm ET by Greg Sterling

Google had a strong Q1 with $8.58 billion in gross revenue. Net revenue was $6.54 billion. Both figures were somewhat better than some expected, although many are calling them "mixed." Growth was 27 percent year over year. Expenses and costs were higher and some investors are expressing disappointment; Google shares are down almost 5 percent in after-hours trading. Here are some highlights from from the release: Revenues – Google reported revenues of $8.58 billion in the first quarter of 2011, representing a 27% increase over first quarter 2010 revenues of $6.77 [...]

Gov’t To Okay Google-ITA Deal After Google Agrees To Burdensome Conditions

Apr 8, 2011 at 12:52pm ET by Greg Sterling

The Justice Department (DOJ) has signed off on the Google acquisition of travel software company ITA, but says Google must meet certain conditions. The Justice Department said that as originally proposed the acquisition would have "substantially lessened competition among providers of comparative flight search websites in the United States." The DOJ is requiring Google to do a number of things if it wishes to proceed with the ITA acquisition: Google will be required to continue to license ITA’s QPX software to airfare websites on commercially reasonable terms. QPX conducts searche [...]

Two Weeks Later, Google Lifts Ban On BeatThatQuote

Mar 22, 2011 at 9:49am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google acquired BeatThatQuote.com on March 7th, then the day after, Google penalized BeatThatQuote for violating the Google Webmaster guidelines. Guess what? BeatThatQuote has apparently been un-penalized by Google just two weeks after first being penalized. A search for their name in Google once again returns them at the top result: Is two weeks long enough? Remember Google's How & When Ranking Penalties Are Removed post? Do you think Google was penalized long enough or do you think because Google owns them they were given priority? Related Stories:: Google To Acquire [...]

Google Bans Itself Again By Banning BeatThatQuote.com

Mar 8, 2011 at 10:43am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google both acquired and then penalized BeatThatQuote within a single day. Yesterday the financial price comparison site, BeatMyQuote.com was purchased by Google for £37.7 million. And within the same 24-hour period Google decided to slap on a penalty to lower it's ranking due to violating Google's webmaster guidelines. As the news came out that Google acquired the price comparison site, SEOs like SEOBook called out the site's aggressive SEO tactics. Aaron Wall shows how the site was using techniques that went against Google's guidelines, such as link buying, doorway pages and other q [...]

Report: Expect More Aggressive Acquisitions From Google

Mar 7, 2011 at 12:02pm ET by Pamela Parker

Despite what many believe to be an overheated market for tech start-ups, Google hasn't been shy about spending. Last week it bought security company Zynamics; today it reportedly agreed to acquire BeatThatQuote.com; it's still waiting for Justice Department approval on the $700 million purchase of ITA Software announced last year; and it reportedly offered $5 billion for Groupon last year. Today's Wall Street Journal report on Google's acquisition plans indicate the search giant doesn't expect to slow the pace of acquisitions anytime soon, having made a record 48 purchases last year. Go [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions

Google To Acquire BeatThatQuote.com

Mar 7, 2011 at 11:34am ET by Barry Schwartz

Money.co.uk reports that Google will be buying BeatThatQuote.com. Google and BeatThatQuote.com have not officially confirmed this as of yet. BeatThatQuote.com is a price comparison websites for loans and financial products. The site offers comparison pricing on loans, mortgage rates, credit card rates, insurance products and more. Google has been known to offer comparison ads for mortgage rates in the past, specifically in the U.K. Although we do not have official confirmation of the acquisition, Ashley Fletcher, the Online Marketing Manager at Beat That Quote, confirmed the buy [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions

Kayak Welcomes Google As Travel Search Competitor, With ITA Acquisition Still Under DOJ Review

Mar 3, 2011 at 1:30pm ET by Elisabeth Osmeloski

In a bit of a surprising interview on Bloomberg News, Kayak.com's co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Paul English boldly stated that the travel search engine doesn't fear Google's entrance into the travel search market via the proposed acquisition of ITA Software. Kayak is officially listed as a member of the FairSearch Organization, but Google claims English is stating the opposite of what the group has been using as a foundational argument to the DOJ in its opposition to the acquisition. Though English mentioned that they are glad DOJ is looking closely at the terms of the acquisiti [...]

Report: Google Negotiating With DOJ To Prevent Suit To Block ITA Deal

Feb 25, 2011 at 11:07am ET by Greg Sterling

Politico is reporting, as have other outlets, that Google and the Justice Department (DOJ) are now negotiating intensely in the waning days of its investigation into the anti-trust implications of Google's potential acquisition of travel software company ITA. According to the Politico article: The Justice Department has made it clear to Google that it’s willing to go to court to block its acquisition of travel software-maker ITA – and Google has responded by stepping up negotiations to save the deal, a source familiar with the talks tells POLITICO. Sources say that a deal between G [...]

Google Acquires SayNow

Jan 25, 2011 at 2:49pm ET by Barry Schwartz

SayNow has announced Google has just acquired them. SayNow has a platform that allows voice messaging, one-on-one conversations, and group calls to be instantly integrated into Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Android, or iPhone applications. SayNow's cofounders, Nikhyl & Ujjwal, said: We are thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Google. Since 2005, we've explored fun and entertaining ways for people to talk with each other. Through the web, smartphones, and even land lines, our products brought communities together through the power of voice. And as Google has some of [...]

What If Google Had Bought MySpace (And What If They Do)?

Dec 31, 2010 at 8:30am ET by Greg Sterling

AllThingsD's Liz Gannes reports that MySpace is considering significant layoffs -- perhaps up to 50 percent of its 1,000 person staff. We also know (and she repeats) that the site could be sold by News Corp. because of recent poor performance. (News Corp's attitude implies that it had nothing to do with that decline.) Reading this piece prompted me to think: what if Google had bought MySpace instead of News Corp? Google is currently struggling to define/execute a social strategy to better compete with the perceived rising threat of Facebook. Would owning MySpace have made things different n [...]

NY Times Argues Against Google-ITA Acquisition — Delicately

Dec 21, 2010 at 10:48am ET by Greg Sterling

In a curious editorial yesterday the NY Times makes a kind of luke-warm argument against Google's acquisition of travel software company ITA. Here's the operative paragraph: Regulators must consider that if Google extends its dominance to the business of steering online customers to airlines and travel agencies, it would be in a position to charge more for this service. Without strong competitors to keep it in check, it might offer preferential placement to some airlines or agencies for a fee, or not list offers from companies that didn’t pay up. This could lead to higher costs for ag [...]

Amazing: Groupon Rejects Google Mega-Offer

Dec 3, 2010 at 8:28pm ET by Greg Sterling

Groupon has apparently rejected the $5 billion-plus takeover bid by Google, electing to remain independent and probably go public later. AllThingsD is independently reporting that Groupon's revenues are actually closer to $2 billion than the $500 million previously estimated. I was told several months ago by Groupon President Rob Solomon that the company was on track for $400 million this year; so revenues must have really accelerated. It's a remarkable thing that Groupon's board said no to what would have been the largest acquisition in Google's history. However if the $2 billion revenu [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Top News

Senator Calls On DOJ To Limit Google’s ITA Purchase

Dec 2, 2010 at 6:12pm ET by Matt McGee

Citing a litany of concerns over competition, airfare, and technology, a US Senator is calling on the Justice Department to put conditions on Google's purchase of travel software company ITA. In a letter to the DOJ on Wednesday, Senator Herb Kohl outlined a number of concerns over Google's purchase of ITA -- the independent software provider that powers many of the top online travel web sites, from individual airline sites to online travel services (Expedia, Orbitz) and aggregators (Kayak, Bing Travel): "Participants in the on-line travel industry are concerned that Google could refuse t [...]

Google Would Be Crazy To Spend $5B For Groupon

Nov 30, 2010 at 8:18am ET by Greg Sterling

Google is sitting on more than $30 billion in cash so maybe $5 billion isn't so much in that context. But it seems crazy (capital C) to me for Google to pay that kind of premium for the company -- making it by far the largest acquisition in Google's long history of acquisitions -- despite Groupon's global footprint and stellar growth. Google could buy one or more of Groupon's competitors (and a lot of other assets) and accomplish many of the same objectives at less cost. But what do I know? I'm speculating that Groupon is in a position to make between $400 and $500 million in top-line re [...]

Google To Buy Groupon This Week In $5 To $6 Billion Deal?

Nov 30, 2010 at 2:19am ET by Danny Sullivan

Whew. The rumors of a Google-Groupon deal are getting hotter. Yesterday, there was a report the deal was done for $2 billion. Today, there are two reports that negotiations continue with a price of $5 to $6 billion being discussed. Back on November 19, the first report of a Google-Groupon deal came out from Kara Swisher at AllThingsD. Swisher reported a price well above $2 to $3 billion was being discussed. Yesterday, Vator.tv reported that the acquisition was actually complete, done for $2.5 billion. Today, the New York Times reports that "people with direct knowledge" say a deal i [...]

Boutiques.com: A Very Different Shopping Site For Women, From Google

Nov 17, 2010 at 7:13am ET by Greg Sterling

Earlier this week Google launched offline product inventory for Google Shopping/Product Search. And this morning the company is going live with the decidedly un-Googly Boutiques.com. On the surface Boutiques may resemble other "social shopping" sites such as Polyvore or Stylehive, among others. But the underlying technology, I'm told, is much more sophisticated than comparable female-centric shopping sites. (There's also an iPad app.) Boutiques is a highly visual, social and personalized shopping destination built on sophisticated machine learning and visual recognition technology. M [...]

Is Google Baraza A Test Drive For A New Google Q&A Product?

Nov 16, 2010 at 7:35am ET by Greg Sterling

Google Blogoscoped pointed our attention to Google's Baraza, a Yahoo-Answers-like Q&A site for Africa. The expressed rationale behind Baraza is that it will help generate "local content" across the continent. There's a relatively elaborate point system (a "currency") used to pay for answers and as a reward for participation otherwise. Because it's globally available in English we're likely to see broad participation from outside of Africa in Baraza. The more interesting question in my mind is whether this will become a model for a larger Q&A effort at Google. The company cour [...]

OTA Coalition Forms, Calls Google+ITA Deal A Threat To Consumers And Competition

Nov 1, 2010 at 12:35pm ET by Elisabeth Osmeloski

Last week, it was announced that FairSearch.org was formed by a group of travel and technology businesses, including Expedia Inc. ( Expedia.com, Hotwire , TripAdvisor), Farelogix, KAYAK.com and SideStep; and Sabre Holdings, owners of Travelocity to lobby against Google's acquisition of ITA software (for $700 million) which provides data to a number of top travel websites, including Bing Travel (Farecast). Speculation worried the travel industry for months leading up to the formal announcement on July 1, 2010, and ever since then, Google's Acquisition of ITA has been highly scrutini [...]

Report: Google Buying Social Calendar, Acquisition Count Dwarfs Rivals

Sep 28, 2010 at 8:08am ET by Greg Sterling

It's being reported this morning that Google is buying a "social calendar" for mobile devices called Plannr (we're back to the heady vowel-free days). There have been a number of largely unsuccessful efforts to create group or social calendars in the past and there are several existing competitors in the segment, most notably Plancast. The app itself is largely unremarkable and the acquisition may be about buying the small team (of two) behind Plannr. One can imagine a mobile-social event planning or calendaring tool being one of the many nodes of Google's evolving and emerging social strat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Top News

Google Doubles Pace Of Acquisitions In 2010

Aug 12, 2010 at 9:29am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google Steps Up Acquisitions as Some Internal Projects Falter from Bloomberg reports Google has doubled their anticipated acquisition levels in 2010 and plans on keeping that pace going. In early January 2009 Google halted acquisitions, but in September 2009 said they would begin shopping for businesses to acquire again. Google's CEO Eric Schmidt said he has doubled that pace because "the opportunities are there." Schmidt added, "We can afford it. We’re in a mode of investment for the long term." Just this year, Google has acquired 17 companies including Aardvark, reMail, Picnik, D [...]

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