Internet goliath Google Inc. will open a research and development facility on Carnegie Mellon University's campus, state economic development and university officials are expected to announce today. ...Google, based in Menlo Park, Calif., is setting up a local shop because it, like a handful of other Silicon Valley firms, wants to be close to CMU and the research talent at its engineering and computer sciences schools, considered among the tops in the country. ...Its online search capabilities rapidly became so pervasive that people would say they are going to "Google" someone or something when looking up information on the Internet. ...The firm's market value has soared above $100 billion -- eclipsing a long list of business icons -- Coca Cola Co., Pepsico Inc., Time Warner Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. ...When the company first went public, skeptics believed fierce competition from formidable rivals such as Microsoft and Yahoo Inc. would erode the company's search engine leadership and, ultimately, retard its earnings growth. ...Through October, Google held a 39 percent share of the U.S. market for online search, up from 34.8 percent at the same time last year, according to comScore Networks. Yahoo's share has meanwhile declined to 29.2 percent from 32 percent a year ago and Microsoft's has decreased to 14.6 percent from 15.8 percent last year, comScore said. ...As Google has introduced more intriguing products to complement its search engine, prominent securities analysts such as Benjamin Schachter of UBS Securities and Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray have become convinced the company is bound to become an indispensable hub in a global economy increasingly driven by the Internet. ...Their meteoric rise has evoked memories of the emergence of another high-tech star in the 1980s -- Microsoft Corp., which 16 months after going public, traded at a split-adjusted 30 cents per share -- more than quadrupling from the March 1986 IPO price of 7 cents. ...For one, Microsoft's market value remained below $10 billion 16 months after its IPO, leaving plenty of upside for investors. ...The impressive earnings growth distinguishes Google from the throng of unprofitable dot.coms with stocks that soared during 1999 and 2000, only to crash after investors concluded the valuations were based on goofy math. You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ |