Banexi Venture Partners earned six times the firm's investment in Kelkoo SA when Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) bought the French comparison shopping site in 2004 for $575 million. Which is many times better than Yahoo! will do now that it's reportedly selling Kelkoo to a private equity firm. TechCrunch says U.K.-based Jamplant Ltd. is buying Kelkoo for less than €100 million ($125 million). 

In confirming the sale on his blog, Former Kelkoo CEO Pierre Chappaz (pictured sitting to the left of Internet entrepreneur Loïc LeMeur) rips Yahoo! (in French) for what he describes as its poor management of the shopping company. Interestingly, he echoes a common critique of Yahoo!: it's culture. He also cites Yahoo!'s trouble integrating search company Overture, which it bought in 2003 for $1.6 billion.

Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Richard Fetyko this morning launched coverage of Google (GOOG) with a Sell rating.

Fetyko asserts that GOOG will be among the first stocks to rally when the economy stabilizes, but that there is downside near-term to consensus estimates.

Bucket tests and experimental products are one thing. But to mess with the real Google search is serious stuff. Why did they do it?

Google’s overall search share has grown substantially this year (and all other years since it went live). Their share of search advertising dollars is likely even higher.

Bucket tests and experimental products are one thing. But to mess with the real Google search is serious stuff. Why did they do it?

Google’s overall search share has grown substantially this year (and all other years since it went live). Their share of search advertising dollars is likely even higher.

A study of online advertising was recently released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. What it revealed is that internet advertising is growing despite the economic downturn. Total online advertising revenue for the third quarter neared $5.9 billion. That’s an 11% improvement from last year’s third quarter and a slight 2% gain from the previous quarter. The study also concluded that year-to-date web advertising has brought in $17.3 billion, which is an improvement from $15.2 billion through three quarters in 2007. This study should not be considered the final authority on interactive advertising, but it does demonstrate an apparent resilience in the face of economic hardship.

The study is welcome news to Google (GOOG) which has seen its stock fall by 60% so far this year. Apart from the generally negative momentum of the stock market, Google’s stock has suffered from the expectation that its search-engine-based advertising would suffer as companies strip their marketing budgets. Advertising has been curtailed significantly as many retailers are struggling and the automakers are just trying to stay in business. However, the brunt of the pull-back has been felt in more traditional media like television and print. Growth in what is termed interactive advertising has not suffered nearly as badly. One potential reason is that interactive advertising results are more easily quantifiable because mouse clicks are tracked. By tracking where eyeballs are looking, advertisers can know what is working and what is not, which is of course very valuable.

Wednesday, hundreds of Microsoft (MSFT) shareholders converged on Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center to hear the state of their union. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates talked Azure while shareholder votes for board seats were tallied. Yahoo (YHOO) wasn’t  a subject on the annual meeting’s agenda, but the prospect of a new Microsoft bid for the struggling web giant was on the minds of many.

The very first question of the open Q&A put it out there: “What’s happening with Yahoo?” Is Microsoft still interested? Steve Ballmer answered assuredly. They’re not. Despite persistent rumors, despite the disintegration of Yahoo and Google’s (GOOG)  search pact, despite Jerry Yang’s pending withdrawal, that ship has sailed.

Internet advertising revenues reached almost $5.9 billion for the third quarter of 2008 - an 11% increase over the same period in 2007 and two percent higher than Q2 results, according to the latest report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau ((IAB)) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ((PwC)).

Data from the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report show that while double-digit annual growth continues, the quarter-to-quarter curve remains relatively flat compared with recent past performance.

Internet giant Google (GOOG) will build a new server farm in Austria. According to Austrian media reports, Google finalized the purchase of a 75 hectares (=185 acres) property in Kronstorf, Upper Austria. It is expected to build one of its 36 estimated data centers here. The server farm will need an investment upwards of €100 million and Google will employ roughly 100 people after two years of construction.

According to Austrian daily Kurier, the property is ideally located, close to several hydropower plants that ensure power supply and the river Enns whose water can be used to cool the hardware. Kurier listed a link to pindom.com, citing it as a source for its estimate that Google operates 36 server farms worldwide. The link was dead as of today.

iMergent, Inc., (IIG)

F4Q08 Earnings Call