Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Gives Raises - Stock Falls

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) fell $13.90 per share or 2.25% on last trading session after it was announced that the tech giant would give raises to top executives at the company and boost employee salaries. The company has been doing remarkably well, beating analyst estimates and proving that their growth story is still on track. Executives will be dealt 30% raises while regular employees will get a 10% increase. Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin will have their salaries remain at $1, though the top executives own a large amount of company stock.

Google stock closed at $603.29 in the last trading session.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in the Green on Down Day

The tech-heavy NASDAQ index soared today while the S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average benchmarks lagged. Technology leaders Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) jumped 0.27%, 0.47%, and 0.71% respectively. Investors traded up these companies that showed strong earnings in their recent quarterly reports. Each of these fast growing technology names closed just a point or so below their 52-week highs, with Amazon hitting a fresh 52-week high today.

Does Bing Bring in the Bling? (NASDAQ: MSFT) (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: YHOO)

Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing search engine has been taking market share ever since it was launched. According to Net Applications, Bing is the 4th largest search engine by query volume on the Internet at 3.25%. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is in first at %83.34%, followed by Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and 6.32% and then Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) at 4.96%. Bing does offer similar search results, but also houses some interesting new features for a search engine. Its home page is quite appealing and its Bing Maps shows high quality birds-eye-view images. Although not as easy to navigate as Google, Bing sure is creeping up on Yahoo in the United States. Some reports have said that Microsoft recently passed Yahoo as the second largest search engine, if all of the Microsoft Network search engines are included, such as Windows Live, and MSN.

Google Acquires Small Tech Start-up (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) picked up a small technology firm on Friday that specializes in touch typing for an undisclosed amount. The company, BlindType, can correct even the worst touch screen typing. The smart and impressive algorithm can detect swapped, missing, and extra letters, and correct them on the fly. The innovative product can increase typing speeds, as users will no longer need to worry about spelling mistakes. It’s no wonder Google scooped up this company. To watch a demo of the BlindType software, visit their web site here.

BlindType technology is designed for touch screens, which are mainly in use on mobile phones. The software could spark interest in the future if released on Google’s Android platform.

A Mediocre Number

Google reported a profit of $6.45 a share after the closing bell last night. This was much higher than least year’s quarter of $5.36; however, analysts were expecting Google to earn $6.52 a share.

The stock got hammered after hours, down more than $20. The stock price hit a wall earlier this year when Google decided to pull out of China. It could have a major effect on future earnings. This is the first time in 2 years that the search giant has lagged behind analyst estimates.