Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Google Zeitgeist must be one of the hottest sites around this week, with its 2008 end of the year report out that shows what we’ve all been looking for. In Switzerland, the fastest rising searches are “facebook” and “iphone,” well ahead of “UBS” in the number 9 slot. But that’s not surprising if you consider that “facebook” is only number 6 for searches, with “youtube” and “google” in the first two places. Worldwide, “facebook” is the most popular search term.
A June deal between Google and Yahoo that would let Google use some of Yahoo’s online advertising space quickly ran into problems with the US Justice Department and the Wall St Journal is now reporting sources close to the deal as saying it could be dropped next week. The two have 80% of the online advertising market and advertisers have voiced fears prices will rise if the deal goes through. Reuters
Where do we turn when we’re worried about the economy? Google, it seems, whose business is booming and when it turned in a better than expected quarterly profits report, and said it would curb spending although it has just hired 500 people, its share rose 10% in an otherwise gloomy market Thursday. Reuters
