On the heals of its earnings report yesterday, Google has hit a new all-time high and surpassed the $200 billion mark in terms of market value. For some perspective, that is more than News Corp, Disney, Viacom, and CBS are worth ... combined. The number makes Google the second largest technology company in the world, trailing only Microsoft.
Aside from the staggering numbers, Google's soaring stock is the main reason it is able to do so many deals, like the recent acquisitions of Jaiku, FeedBurner, and GrandCentral. While as onlookers we look at those successful startups with envy, for Google those deals are barely a footnote in their earnings report. Even if some of the startups the company acquires ultimately fail or are phased out (i.e. - Dodgeball), the company is smart to use its currently highly valued equity to buy as many promising technologies as possible and see what works.