The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has a high-caliber board of directors, which includes heavyweights like Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) Steve Jobs. Having solid leadership has been critical for the company's growth, which is not easy when dealing with the whims of kids.

So, this week Disney added another top operator to its board: the COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg. While she has held the post since only March 2008, her Internet savvy is much deeper. For example, she managed the highly successful AdWords and AdSense programs at Google Inc. (GOOG).

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continued its torrid command of the internet search market in February, powering 72% of all those searches. As always, the next three competitors were way behind: Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) has 17% of the market, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) had 6% and Ask.com had 4%.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s shares closed down at $381 Monday. That is against an all-time high of over $747. They may have much further to fall.

According to Thomson/First Call, analysts expect Google's revenue for the calendar fourth quarter to rise 32% and EPS to go from $4.43 last year to $5.30 in the quarter that ends in December.

Google's stock price early this year was fueled by a 51% increase in revenue in Q4 2007. EPS per diluted share rose from $3.29 to $3.79.

Can Google grow well over 30% again in the teeth of a recession that could badly hurt many of the companies large and small who use Google's AdSense marketing program to drive business? In the current credit crisis, Google could be hurt much more than many investors imagine. There is already talk that companies that cannot get credit may miss payrolls and begin layoffs. That would certainly curtail marketing and spending for the holiday season.

If the present liquidity crisis gets worse, many companies will badly need cash just to keep their doors open. That makes finding money for advertising tough. Could Google's revenue growth rate fall below 20%? Or 15%? It is easier to imagine that with each passing day.

Google last traded below $300 in October 2005. The economy was OK then.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

When Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) bought RSS company Feedburner, experts seemed to think it made a good match with the search companies big blog business, Blogger. Most people who keep blogs use RSS as a way to get their content out. Google could offer a platform for blogging with Blogger, selling ads with AdSense, and distributing content with FeedBurner.

The system has one flaw. Google did not set up a system for selling ads in Feedburner so that consumers looking at a site's RSS feed would also see targeted ads next to the headlines. It was a break in the system which made it incomplete in terms of helping blogs drive profits.

Google has fixed that. According to Alley Insider, "for content publishers who have long feared RSS as a monetization-killer, AdSense for feeds somewhat levels the playing field." The trouble with running blogs or other small websites is the lack of ways to bring in revenue. Google is offering a partial solution to that.

Of course, since Google keeps a large portion of the AdSense for Feedburner revenue, the huge tech company is looking after its own interests.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 Newsletter.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has risen from the ranks of startup to one of the most powerful advertising forces on the planet in about a decade. Although it maintains a corporate mantra of "don't be evil," the company's absolute power over the world of internet advertising borders on on the perception of monopoly just because it has the best product in all the right places. Notice I used the word "perception" there. Is Google a monopoly because it simply has the best product that customers apparently use and love? Of course not.

Similar to how Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) rose to power, Google got there by providing something the competitors didn't: the best product presented in the best way that was the most useful for the consumer. Wal-Mart opened more stores and offered the lowest prices, and consumers noticed and made it the largest retailer in the world as a result. Google is the largest internet advertiser in the world using the same means in a way, but like Wal-Mart, it has competitors (albeit, with much smaller market shares).

But when a company controls so much of the ad market in the online space, smaller advertisers and businesses that want to break onto the scene and fight with larger competitors that may be slower and tuned out will have to use Google at some point. To grow, one simply cannot do business the way it was done in the past. Just like the small and scrappy manufacturer trying to get into Wal-Mart but can't due to the larger companies offering the same widgets at much lower prices, this effect works inside Google too. Advertisers bid on keywords and if they can remain relevant to the consumer within Google's search results, they can out-spend smaller advertisers day in and day out. Are these market forces some kind of monopolistic behavior? Google doesn't control this -- it is simply giving the most relevant information to the customer. Still, one can see the spot Google could be in very shortly, if it isn't already there.

Though we still don't know exactly what happened, IncrediMail (NASDAQ: MAIL) announced today that it has been re-instated by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) as an AdSense Online customer. As a reminder, about two weeks ago, in a shocking announcement, IncrediMail was let go by Google as an AdSense customer. In response, IncrediMail stock has gotten crushed. Though Q1 '08 is sure to be bad, as AdSense is a major revenue driver for the Israeli company, I would expect them to get back on track moving forward.

"We are pleased to be able to resolve this setback so quickly and in such a positive way," said Yaron Adler, IncrediMail's CEO. "Google's co-operation in re-instating our account, together with the feedback we've received from other search engine companies, makes us more optimistic than ever regarding the potential of the search business to drive our results, validating our long-term growth strategies."

While I think that there are still problems at the internet firm, after what it did to get shut down in the first place, at current levels the stock actually looks attractive.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer has no positions in any stock mentioned as of 1/21/08

News that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has decided to stop the AdSense partnership with the Israeli Incredimail (NASDAQ: MAIL) has sent Incredimail stock tumbling. The company said that Google is disabling ads to search result pages displayed through the Incredimail account, and in addition that the Company's AdSense account has been disabled. In 2006 and 2007, search revenues powered by Google's AdSense program made a significant contribution to the Company's results.

There is no reason for this move yet and I shudder to think what happened to cause Google to cancel the program. Incredimail stock has been under pressure since the company announced it was going to focus resources on the top line to grow revenues, at the potential expense of short-term profitability. While this is a short-term setback for the internet company, I am sure that it will quickly announce a new partnership. With the stock under $5, this may be the bottom. This is a very interesting company with a cool product. The company still has cash of more than $20 million and the stock has a market-cap of less than $40 million. Keep in mind too that both revenue streams continue to grow. It may yet turn out to be an Incredible story.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no positions in any stock mentioned as of 1/11/08.

Shares sold short in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) fell 14.1 million shares in September to 83 million. It seems that the shorts knew enough to get out ahead of good news.

So far this year, Microsoft's stock has been flat, but over the last three days it has moved up more than 3% on news that it had released its Halo 3 video game and that it is in talks to buy part of social network Facebook.

The enthusiasm about Halo may be well-placed. In the company's last fiscal year, its devices business lost $1.9 billion on $6.1 billion in revenue. The previous year was not any better. The world's largest software company needs a catalyst to drive sales of its Xbox 360, and Halo 3 may well do that.

The Facebook deal has also drawn a great deal of attention. Rival Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is building a large advertising platform using its own search inventory combined with impressions that it gets from its AdSense network. To expand that business, it is buying DoubleClick and has a deal to sell ads on social network leader MySpace. AOL is making moves in the same business. It owns Advertising.com, the largest ad network, and has just bought behavior targeting company Tacoda.

That leaves Microsoft sitting well behind its rivals. A deal with Facebook could help expand a network around its portal, MSN. Online services lost $732 million last year.

It may be that the company is facing up to its online and devices problems. That could be good news.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has signed an exclusive pact with Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) CNN unit to use Google's AdSense advertising program for text-based ads.

The AdSense service will place contextually relevant ads alongside CNN.com content, allowing both small and large advertisers to target CNN.com specifically. Google will serve as the exclusive provider of auction-based text advertisements throughout CNN.com.

Without seeing the contracts it is impossible to know how this ad money will be divided, and it isn't known if Google had to pony up cash or any guarantees to get this on an exclusive basis. The Google pact isn't exactly a huge surprise either because if you look at the CNN.com site, its search function already has the "POWERED BY GOOGLE" feature.

It may be a surprise that CNN isn't using the Advertising.com platform, although it would seem a safe bet that this could fuel all sorts of speculation between the two platforms. After the strong advertising reach the company showed in the most recent comScore data it would seem quite a strong platform. This also brings more 'outside revenues' rather than one Time Warner unit generating revenue for another unit. CNN is not part of AOL so this would 'likely' be independent of any future arrangements between the two companies.

Update (Aug 29): An email sent to me from a CNN employee states that the relationship is still there and this will not affect the Advertising.com pact with CNN.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he produces the Special Situation Investing Newsletter and does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Paid-search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been sued by AMR Corp.'s (NYSE: AMR) American Airlines over an advertising dispute, according to the Associated Press. The suit alleges that Google would sell American Airlines-trademarked keywords to rival airlines. In doing so, Google obviously managed to seriously offend the management at American.

It's interesting that Google refused to settle with American before the case went to court. It proves that Google is aware of these practices and feels they can justify them.

I'd assume that Google refused to settle based on a previous legal decision -- this one related to Geico, a segment of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A). This case was very similar to American's. Geico was angry because other insurance companies had been allowed to purchase advertising under the term "Geico," a trademark of the company. In this case, the judge decided that Google's procedures were actually legal.

Despite the popularity of Google's search engine, one has to wonder if advertisers or publishers are ever going to seriously put their feet down against Google's practices. Google collects more than half of the AdSense program's revenues for itself and remains incredibly secretive, even to its best publishers. As this case displays, Google also has controversial practices with advertising customers -- practices that could come back and haunt this company in the future.

I'd argue that the company's earnings multiple of 40 and powerful growth estimates from analysts don't reflect the potential risks involved in the company's sometimes-deceptive practices.

Disclosure: Kevin Kelly is long Berkshire Hathaway (B).

This week, a startup company -- adap.tv -- raised $10 million from Redpoint Ventures and Gemini Israel Funds.

The company is trying to get a piece of the growing ad market for video. Hey, with the huge success of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, it seems like a pretty good idea, right?

The founder of the company, Amir Ashkenazi, does have a lot of credibility. After all, he's the former cofounder of Shopping.com, which sold out to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).

But does his new venture really have a chance? I talked to Chase Norlin, who is the CEO of Pixsy, which is a search engine for multimedia. According to him:

"Adap.tv looks a lot like ScanScout, and a variety of other startups looking to become the next 'Adsense for Video.' That space is starting to feel a little crowded to me, not to mention the fact that Google hasn't even entered this market yet. Also, expect the major ad networks and online advertising companies to offer competitive products here as well. I'm sure adap.tv's technology is interesting, but that's not what matters in the online ad space. What matters is publisher reach and a large pool of advertisers to provide solid monetization. That's why companies like ValueClick continue to get stronger despite their non-groundbreaking technology: their advertiser and publisher pool continues to grow and the bigger they get the harder they become to displace."

And, to see more recent venture capital deals, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Nielsen/NetRatings has decided that the total amount of time that consumers spend on a website is more important than the number of page views or unique visitors that the site has.

According to The Washington Post, the new rankings favor Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL, and Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) MSN to some extent because they have substantial e-mail and instant messaging traffic. AOL moves to the head of the list because it had 25 billion minutes spent on its sites in the U.S. during May. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is poor at 7 billion minutes.

But the new ratings system is substantially flawed if what you really care about is how much revenue a site generates. Time spent on instant messaging is not like time spent on search, which is also not like time spent on watching a video. AOL may have more time spent than Google, but the search engine's advertising model is based on targeted text ads attached to search results. It is hard to argue with the AdSense model since it generates more revenue than any competing system.

AOL's "minutes" were 3.5 times Google's minutes during May, but a metric that has nothing to do with revenue creation is not much of a metric at all.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has purchased RSS feed leader FeedBurner. Terms were not disclosed, but the cost was rumored to be about $100 million. The company provides feeds for about 400,000 customers, many of them blogs. It will be a good fit with Google's Blogger platform, which is widely used.

More menacing for Google's competition is the fact that Google will control the largest banner ad serving company, DoubleClick, the premier search text ad business, AdSense, and, with FeedBurner, the largest RSS advertising platform. Firms, including AOL and The Wall Street Journal, participate in the FeedBurner advertising network. Advertising is sold by channels like "business" and "news' with feeds from the appropriate sites banded together.

Once again, it is surprising that Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) were not buyers. The price of the company was not so high as to be out of reach.

Google's M&A seems to be as good as its search tools.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Several sources have confirmed that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is in the closing stages of buying RSS management company FeedBurner. The start-up's traffic has increased over 200% in the past year, according to Hitwise. The company describes its business as Web-based tools to help bloggers, podcasters, and commercial publishers promote, deliver, and profit from their content on the Web.

Websites and blogs use FeedBurner to track RSS feeds and traffic to their sites. Google will pay about $100 million for the company.

The RSS feed business is one that has yet to be monetized, but FeedBurner does have a nascent advertising program. With the use of Google's Adsense program, this revenue could almost certainly be pushed up sharply.

Because FeedBurner is an important source of traffic and data for blogs, it also fits well into the Google Blogger platform, which is used to create millions of blogs. Many of these blogs use Adsense to get their revenue. With Feedburner, Google will have "one-stop shopping" that will offer RSS feeds, audience data, and advertising.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) could have used FeedBurner to enhance their relationship with the blog and RSS communities, but that's another story.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported another quarter of exceeding consensus earnings last night. By the way, Google has exceeded estimates 10 of the 11 quarters it has been public.

The most interesting comments were focused around Google's international business. For example, Google just released Gmail in China which is seeing strong uptake. It appears Google is launching international product wrapped around its application offerings which will further increase the amount of time users will spend on the Google platform.

Gross revenue was up 63% being driven by Google's core business, Google.com. Adsense grew 45% supported by booming international revenue. Paid clicks aggregate growth was 52% year over year and 13% sequentially.

Operating cash flow was 1.2 billion and free cash flow was 623 million.

Google believes advertising is not a zero sum game and by making advertising less intrusive you can actually improve the relationship between consumer and advertiser.

Search market share for Google moved up slightly to 48%, versus 27% for Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO), according to industry sources. Google appears to be looking more and more like the Microsoft of the Internet era. In my opinion, it is too powerful of a company not to own.