Facebook has now overtaken Google
This doesn't mean that Facebook is worth anything near Google's $180 billion market cap. Google's traffic is easily monetized, since it consists mostly of search queries that Google can hand over to lead-seeking sponsors.
Facebook may know enough about its individual users to eventually serve perfectly targeted ads, but its users rarely wants to actually leave the site unless they're chasing down an interesting external link posted by a friend.
So when's the IPO? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't appear ready take his social network public anytime soon. Momentum is on his side. According to Hitwise, Facebook's market share soared 185% over the past year, relative to Google's more modest 9% advance. This doesn't mean that the site will always be on top, though. News Corp.'s
While Facebook is still growing quickly, let's hope it decides to go public before its popularity peaks.
Briefly in the news
Let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- Shares of Baidu
(Nasdaq: BIDU) hit a new all-time high this week, after reports surfaced indicating that Google was nearly certain to bow out of China. We'll see how that plays out, but I'm not the only one who suspects that Google's market share will likely go to an opportunistic outsider. Microsoft's(Nasdaq: MSFT) Bing is a prime candidate. As I've said in the past, you can't spell Beijing without Bing… - Poor Boeing
(NYSE: BA) . Its problematic Dreamliner has cost the company another carrier cancellation this week. -
Harley-Davidson
(NYSE: HOG) shares revved up this week, as buyout rumors circulated. The killer brand and its industry-leading position are certainly attractive traits, but speculators may want to hold off until their hog-heaven acquisition dreams actually materialize.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
