Yahoo (YHOO), which competes with Google (GOOG) and AOL (AOL) in the search business, is seeing a relatively stable profit margin of 42% since 2008 by our estimates, and we expect the margin to rise slightly over the coming years as Yahoo benefits from its partnership with Microsoft (MSFT). In 2009, Yahoo and Microsoft signed a deal whereby Yahoo will not only use Microsoft's search technology on its websites but will also keep a majority of the ad revenues. Yahoo is also making efforts to control costs by cutting its workforce, which should improve profitability in the short term.

Baidu (BIDU), China's search engine giant, has seen its American depositary shares (ADSs) rise very nicely over the last 12 months. Yesterday, the ADSs closed up almost 2% to $108.63, not too far from the 52-week high of $115.04; the price movement was achieved on high volume. The 52-week low is $40.67, so those who bought in near the latter price are pretty happy campers.

That 2% rise, while quite respectable, wasn't the big story; rather, it was what happened during the after-hours session. The ADSs went up 7.7% to $116.99. Considering that we're in another earnings season, I don't think it's a particular challenge for anyone to guess what propelled the company to such lofty heights.

Google (GOOG) gave investors some Q4 numbers to digest after the bell on Thursday, but that news may have been overshadowed by a surprise change in management. As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, Larry Page will be taking over CEO duties from Eric Schmidt.

But let's have a look at the numbers anyway. On a reported basis, the search-engine business made $7.81 a share, good for a 27% year-over-year growth rate. On an adjusted basis, per-share profit came out to $8.75, comfortably ahead of the $8.06 projected by Wall Street. The top line also put in a strong showing.

Google (GOOG) found itself in the news spotlight Tuesday morning. First, the company announced that it is going to make a substantial offer to purchase coupon site Groupon. The other news is that the company now faces a formal investigation from European Union antitrust regulators following complaints from several search providers that Google has abused its "dominant position."

The EU stated, "The Commission will investigate whether Google has abused a dominant market position in online search by allegedly lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services." Back in February, Google reported that a British site (Foundem) and a French legal search engine (ejustice.fr) both accused the company of demoting their sites in Web search results through its search algorithm. The two sites state that this took place because they are rivals.

I'm sure there are some out there who want to take me to task for my thoughts on Google, Inc.'s (GOOG) trade potential before the search giant released its third-quarter report after the bell today. I thought there was too much risk to the situation, but it looks as if the market decided to embarrass me.

At the time of this writing, the shares were up 9% to roughly $590 in the extended-hours session. The company had closed the regular session down slightly to just under $541. According to the Associated Press, net income beat expectations by a comfortable margin.

News is surfacing that Google (GOOG) will purchase ITA Software. ITA is a technology company that owns specialized software that enables customers to find "sophisticated flight information." The acquisition will allow Google users to comparison shop for airline tickets.

Before we get all excited about how much money this is going to add to Google's bottom line, remember that it will not be earning money on tickets sold as the company is not entering the travel business. That said, this acquisition and the airline search service could drive more traffic to Google (if that is even possible), which leads to more page views, which leads to more money.

A big player in the tech sector is ready to report today. Google (GOOG) will publish Q4 results later this afternoon. Traders and investors alike get super excited when the search behemoth tells the world how it's doing.

I think the company will show that it's doing quite well. According to Earnings.com, expectations peg the per-share profit at $6.43. If that number is hit, then the growth rate will be a solid 26% (last year at this time, Google made $5.10 per share). Of course, most people aren't interested in hitting the projected stat, they want management to rise above it and demonstrate true earnings power.

Have you ever gone to a website and kicked the tires? Well, uTest, a Boston-based startup, pulled 600 software professionals together from 20 countries to do exactly that.

The company, which has a bench of 21,000 professional testers from 159 countries, wanted to see which of the three major retail websites -- those run by Amazon.com (AMZN), Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT) -- is the least buggy. The winner: Amazon.

It's now official: Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO) are in cahoots to take on search engine giant Google (GOOG). The new search partnership inked by the two companies still needs to secure regulatory approval, but the talks that began in late July are merely a step away from reality now.

Microsoft and Yahoo! expect to pass this final step early next year. If this happens, the muscle behind Yahoo! search will be Microsoft's Bing search engine.

The newspaper industry continues to blame Google (GOOG) for its woes, and Google continues to claim its innocence. The search engine giant's CEO, Eric Schmidt, says that his company could actually help the newspaper industry survive the shift from print to digital ... a shift that's been more than a decade in the making, he was kind enough not to note.

According to Schmidt, publishers need to dig into the online environment and find new ways to generate revenue. "With dwindling revenue and diminished resources," he wrote in an op-ed piece published in News Corp's (NWS) Wall Street Journal, "frustrated newspaper executives are looking for someone to blame."

Google (GOOG) just picked up another promising startup in its effort to gain some ground in the online visual advertising market. Teracent, which was formed three years ago, is becoming part of the search engine giant.

Yahoo! (YHOO) currently leads the market in display advertising sales, and Google has been trying push into the space. Last year, this led to its acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick, but that was a first step rather than a total solution to Google's display ad ambitions.

Yahoo! (YHOO) is the latest company that wants to optimize its search results for Twitter. This follows moves by Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) to integrate Twitter data into their search results. Unlike its competitors, however, Yahoo! wants to do this without spending a dime (well, without giving a dime to the hot new social media platform).

Twitter's microblogging service has become famous not only for its rapid growth but also because it's found no way to turn it into revenue. Its recent discussions with Microsoft and Google demonstrated that Twitter can indeed bring in some cash -- by licensing its data for use in fine-tuning search engines. With two of the top search engines now optimizing for Twitter, it was only a matter of time before Yahoo! would rush to join the party.