Novice Investing - Searching Goooogle

Date: Friday 29th 2008f August 2008 12:29:49 PM

Searching Goooogle - 09/12/2005

By: Hari Wibowo

Google Inc. just went public on August of 2004. Nevertheless, this is the company that is generating a lot of buzz right now. There are reasons for that. One, the company is valued at around $ 80 Billion now. Secondly, the company has a 25% net profit margin on its latest quarter ending June 2005. This is comparable to Yahoo's.

Google's annual report shows plenty of meaningful information. To start, Google's mission is to organize the world's information and makes it universally available and useful. It generates revenue from delivering a relevant, cost-effective online advertising. 25% of this revenue is derived from websites outside of Google. Meanwhile, 65% of those revenue is derived in the United States and 35% is derived elsewhere.

Other interesting notes to know is traffic acquisition cost. This is the term used for traffic generated by Google network partners. These websites bring in traffic, which in turn brings in advertising revenue for Google. The percentage of traffic acquisition cost has declined to 79% of revenue recently from 91% in 2002. This means that for every $1 of advertising revenue generated by Google, its website partners are getting 79cents out of it. Not a bad deal.

Google's Annual Report specifically stated that their main competitors are Microsoft and Yahoo!. That is understandable. Both companies have their own search engines and they both have the capabilities of offering contextual advertising. (In fact, Yahoo! already did)

Google had indexed over 8 billion of webpages. Here are other features provided by Google:

Google Maps. As the name implies, Google Map let users plot routes, get driving directions, and find businesses found at a particular place.

Google SMS. Users can use their text messaging on their mobile phone to find information about weather, local, stock quote and others. Available in the United States, I personally have used this service to look for local weather, stock quote and movie information. Simply send an SMS to GOOGL (46645) and type in your message. Google will send a text message giving you the information shortly thereafter.

Google Desktop Search. Google Desktop provides the same search functionality in your PC as it would on the web. Using this feature, you can find your MP3 files, PowerPoint presentations or others that were saved in your PC hard drive.

We can go on and on about but in short, Google exists to gather any kind of information and make them presentable to any individuals while making money on the side. That seems to be the direction they are going.

END

For preliminary research, you can browse our collection of annual reports here

You can also view other helpful commentary by clicking here

Disclaimer: The sole purpose of this article is educational. This article is merely the opinion of the writer and is not in any way a buy/sell recommendation regarding Google Inc. (GOOG) or other securities.

[Resources] [Forum] [Link Partner ] [Novice Investing Directory ] [ Submit Your Article Here ]