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Google’s CEO predicts that his company will hold up well in a U.S. downturn and claims to believe that Microsoft’s proposed Yahoo buyout is bad for the internet.
Advertisers, said Eric Schmidt, usually seek out “highly measured” advertising in bad times, a trend Google is well positioned to exploit. Schmidt, reported MarketWatch, also said Google’s international business helped diversify its revenue base as the dollar continues to cede ground.
When Schmidt was asked about Microsoft Corp.’s proposed buyout of Yahoo Inc. he said he thought it would threaten the principles of openness that govern the internet. “We would be concerned with any kind of acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft because of Microsoft’s past history and the things it has done that have been so difficult for everyone,” he said. Microsoft has been seen by other competitors and regulators as anticompetitive.
Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $44.6 billion buyout bid in January, but may be running out of options to hold off a hostile takeover by the software behemoth. Industry analysts, according to UPI, predict that a mediocre quarterly report is forthcoming and add that other suitors such as Google and AOL are no longer an option.
All sectors of the media business will suffer from the weakened economy in 2008 and 2009, with a slump in local advertising particularly hurting newspapers and local TV, according to a new projection from Goldman Sachs.
Broadcast nets will experience…
The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller…
Unilever’s Vaseline set forth on an unusual research project in a small town in Alaska. Setting up a storefront, the company began giving away free bottles of lotion and asking recipients to name the person who had recommended they come…
Meet the Press, the show hosted by Tim Russert for 17 years before his death last June, is beginning to slip in ratings.
Last month, CBS’s Face the Nation pulled ahead of Meet the Press for the first time in two…
Bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years, according to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, MarketingCharts writes.…
Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
