Google looking golden again after challenging stretch

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"Google is still in the driver's seat either way," said analyst Martin Pyykkonen of Global Crown Capital.

Perhaps Google's only glaring weakness is its dependence on those ubiquitous ad links that appear alongside search results and other content on thousands of Web sites. They have generated virtually all of the $42 billion in revenue that has poured into the company's coffers since 2003, even though Google has invested billions to build software applications for businesses and an array of other products.

Google wants to sell more visual advertising through its two biggest acquisitions video-sharing site YouTube and DoubleClick, which specializes in the Internet's equivalent of billboards.

The DoubleClick deal, completed for $3.2 billion in March, represents the first time that Google will have to absorb hundreds of new employees into its work force. The acquisition also prompted Google to make the first mass layoffs in its nearly 10-year history. At least 300 of DoubleClick's 1,500 workers are expected to lose their jobs, and the number could rise in the months ahead.

Google also has been losing some of its top talent to rising Internet star Facebook Inc., which runs an online hangout with about 70 million users worldwide.

Sheryl Sandberg, formerly Google's vice president of global online sales, became Facebook's chief operating officer in March. This week Elliot Schrage, Google's head of communications, announced he is taking a similar job at Facebook. Google also has seen a couple of top engineers move to Facebook.

But Google's challenges are outweighed by its opportunities.

Besides developing more ad avenues on the Internet, Google is extending its reach into television, radio and mobile phones. In its latest push into the mobile market, Google on Wednesday disclosed a $400 million investment into a new high-speed network being developed by Clearwire and Sprint Nextel.

Google's success and bold ambitions figure to make its shareholder event a congenial affair, much like the three previous meetings that the Mountain View-based company has held since going public in August 2004.

Meanwhile, Yahoo is girding for what's likely to be the most contentious meeting in its 12-year history as public company. The meeting, scheduled July 3, will provide a forum for Yahoo's angry shareholders to excoriate and possibly oust the company's board for its handling of the Microsoft bid.

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