Google plans first-ever share buyback

For the first time in its history, Google plans to buy back its own shares, following the completion of the AdMob acquisition.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Bloomberg of the plan Tuesday, which of course assumes the deal passes regulatory scrutiny. Google announced plans Monday to buy AdMob--one of the most successful mobile advertising companies--for $750 million in stock, making it the third-largest acquisition in Google's history.

Some had wondered why Google used stock instead of dipping into its cash horde to make the deal, which has the effect of diluting the holdings of other shareholders. However, by snapping up $750 million worth of its own stock, Google can offset the additional shares of stock put on the market for AdMob employees.

Tech Trader Daily spotted a research note from Broadpoint Amtech analyst Benjamin Schachter that said while Google is not likely to make this a regular thing, "it is a welcome first from Google." Some companies buy back shares on a regular or semi-regular basis to boost their stock price.

Google also filed a form with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday noting that in some cases it may pay cash for AdMob shares if it is unable to get 32 AdMob shareholders to declare themselves "accredited investors" and thus eligible for Google stock instead of cash.

[krosafcheg]

Ask yourselves how many times are you going to be annoyed by ads on your phone/pda, with the limited screen real estate we already have. $750mm for this service? Fail.

[tektaktyks]

in the beginning google was great,i always found what i was looking for,lately all the results are garbage,links to scams and some bs sites trying to sell me something.anybode else feels that way?

[apple-pi]

i don't, if anything, i think the results have improved significantly, something very natural due to more data becoming available on the web.

[tektaktyks]

well,i don't,i know that more scammers is paying to get their links on the first page and free stuff is knocked down the list...yes?Yes.

[JerzeyRich]

I switched to Bing.com the first day it came out. Google is like a black and white cell phone screen: outdated and boring.

[Squashman2]

Its great that people find Bing useful. But every time I have tried to use one of Microsoft's search iterations it has never found what I was looking for. Even Google has always done a better job at indexing Microsoft's KB then Microsoft does.

[xilonic]

Very true - MS own search engine cannot find answers in MS KB, while Google always does the job.

[Jamie_Foster]

This sounds like financial engineering to me. The further Google deviate from the adswords product the more annoying their ads become. As far as I'm concerned Android, Chrome and Chrome OS are just adware. I will always choose Microsoft or Apple over Google. The only exception is search.

[XCMeathead]

Google is a portal to the web - It's deliberately not flashy so that it loads fast, and you get where you want to go as quickly as possible. If ook and feel are that important to you, you can try themes with iGoogle of course :o)

[disco-legend-zeke]

buying back shares is stealing from the shareholders in the us.

[humanssssss]

buy back is a sign Google believe their admob acquisition will make them a lot more money in the future.

Google search is still way better than Bing. Bing doesn't give good search result. All it does is give good visual which has no relationship to the search.