GOOG Did Google make taxes a scapegoat? - WSJ (396.04 ) The Wall Street Journal reports taxes were taxing for Google (GOOG) Q4 earnings -- but maybe not as much as investors may have been led to believe. As widely reported the past week, the co's Q4 net income of $1.54 a share, excluding items, missed analysts' consensus expectation by 22 cents. Google executives stressed that most of the earnings shortfall was attributable to the co having to foot a higher U.S. tax bill than anticipated. But a closer look at Google's results show that only half of the earnings shortfall -- 11 cents a share out of 22 cents a share -- may be related to taxes. The issue is that Google had to record more taxes than expected in Q4 because more of its expenses were allocated to its international operations than it had expected, compared with its U.S. operations. That, in turn, raised U.S. pretax profit as a proportion of Google's total, and a greater percentage of Google's profit was taxed at a higher domestic tax rate. The co's effective tax rate for Q4 was 41.8%; the rate for the full year was 31.6%, compared with Google's projection of about 30%.
GOOG Google: CNBC commentator says click fraud is on the SEC's radar screen (381.55 ) -Update- CNBC commentator discusses click fraud related to GOOG, saying the regulators are starting to look at the issue. Says if there is a credible charge that some of the clicks are fraudulant, the SEC will get involved. Says he thinks the SEC will have to find a legitimate charge or allegation, and that's when they go in. Says click fraud is clearly on the SEC's radar screen, in the accounting unit.
GOOG Google: Verizon Exec accuses GOOG of freeloading, according to Washington Post - DJ (368.44 -16.47) -Update- DJ reports that the Washington Post says a Verizon Communications (VZ) executive accused GOOG of freeloading by gaining access to people's homes through a network of lines and cables the phone company spent billions of dollars to build.
i just started reading this thread, this post is just too funny. search monopoly? rofl 1200 a share? rofl. 600 was a stretch. i was actually about to look at yahoo's growth history to see when google would drop. should have done it a week sooner i might have looked like a genius. there was some talk that their page views wasn't growing fast enough to support their rev growth. plus there's a lot of click fraud going on that hurts advertisers. i woulda been looking for any weakness in operating margins for clues. goog came up on one of my screens as a short candidate but without looking into the stock i wouldn't dare jump in front of a freight train.
whats the SEC going to do? google isn't doing the click fraud. not sure what the company can do to prevent it.
if there is click fraud, its not an sec thing. the sec basically holds companies accountable for their financial accuracy. the sec doesn't prosecute/investigate companies to find out if a company is ripping off a customer. thats something that the customer who is being defrauded would have to sue google for. as far as the verizon thing... these telecom ceo's are absolute loons. the problem is they're internet service revenues are being taken away by cable, and their phone revenues are going to voip companies. ummm....the customer is paying for internet access....they're paying to download web pages...google is a webpage...if you don't want internet servers invading your property, don't connect them to the internet. same thing with the other telecom ceo saying they should start charging streaming service providers with the right to stream over their network, because why should they be able to use their networks for free.....ummm they're not using them for free, the customer is paying the telecom dsl bill so that the customer can download/upload at rates/limits according to the service their paying for, it shouldn't matter whether they're using ftp,http,voip,etc. i would like to see this happen though. first one that cuts off access to a major internet service will likely see all their customers leave for another more internet friendly internet provider (imagine that..an internet provider who actually provides the internet to their customers without bitching about having to do so)
GOOG Google downgrade details (367.92 ) -Update- Amtech downgraded GOOG to Hold from Buy due to the following: 1) they are more cautious on expenses in the near-term, 2) cap-ex outlook is uncertain -- will likely be much greater than most expect and 3) they see risk to Internet business models on regulatory uncertainty regarding net neutrality vs. tiered broadband services. They say they cannot predict the outcome on net neutrality and do not see resolution within the next 12-months. Firm notes that they are equally concerned with regulatory uncertainty for YHOO and reiterate their Hold rating.