Before the bell: Futures lower as oil rises, despite Alcoa earningsNearly two years after Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) bought YouTube for over $1.6 billion, it seems that it is not the cash cow Google had hoped it could become. Getting ad revenue from YouTube, The Wall Street Journal says, is not an easy task. Despite the site's popularity with surfers, it isn't popular with big corporate advertisers. World-wide revenue from YouTube ads is likely to total about $200 million for the full year, less than Google's expectation. Google has been trying to show it is not a one-trick pony, YouTube was critical in that.
According to The New York Post, "A blind trust run by Mayor Bloomberg is willing to pay between $4.5 billion and $5 billion to buy Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER)'s 20 percent stake in Bloomberg LP."
If you missed it Tuesday, VMware (NYSE: VMW) sank over 24%, taking EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) shares down 11% with it. The drop is attributed to two main issues, "VMware's warning that revenue for the current year will fall short of expectations," and doubt "EMC would spin out the remainder of VMware's shares." But this morning, after the abrupt replacement of co-founder and CEO Diane Greene by former Microsoft Corp. official Paul Maritz, Wall Street still doesn't seem to be fully satisfied.
According to Bloomberg, Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), maker of the Tomahawk missile and Patriot air- defense systems, plans to capture a larger share of the $9 billion professional instruction market. Raytheon next week will open a global training division, which plans to use expertise culled from working with NASA and General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM).
And in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) news, seems everyone is gearing to Friday's release of the 3G iPhone:
- The Wall Street Journal writes of the Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G
- The New York Times says that For iPhone, the 'New' Is Relative
- And USA Today claims that Apple's new iPhone 3G: Still not perfect, but really close
Meanwhile, in deal news, the $2.13 billion bid of WPP Group Plc, the world's second- largest advertising company, for Taylor Nelson Sofres Plc has turned hostile as WPP took it to investors following its rejection. The hostile bid values Taylor Nelson at a 52% premium over its closing price on April 28, the day before London-based Taylor Nelson said it was in merger talks with German competitor GfK AG.
Why is gold making a new high, trading at $1,118.00 per ounce?
Chasing Value: Ten stocks for 2010 -- Part 1 
Closing Bell: A six-day rally (AIG, REGN, M, MOT, PALM, RIMM)
