Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

[SeriousMoney]

GOOGLE CUBED?

Investors Like Possible AOL-Google Deal
AP, Monday December 19, 2:31 pm ET

Investors Send Google Shares Up to Another 52-Week High on Deal With AOL

NEW YORK (AP) -- Google Inc. investors seemed pleased with the news that Time Warner Inc. is expected to sell a 5 percent stake of internet service provider AOL to Google Inc. for $5 billion, sending shares of Google to another 52-week high Monday.

While a number of bidders, including Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., were thought to be negotiating to buy a stake in America OnLine, it is widely reported that AOL is now in exclusive talks with Google, and an announcement may come as early as Tuesday.

Wall Street analysts approved of the deal. Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine left her rating on the stock at Peer Perform, and wrote that it would be a wise move given the fact that AOL is Google's largest customer, accounting for an estimated $600 million, or 10 percent, of 2005 revenue.

Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck not only liked the AOL deal, he also speculated Google could be on the verge of entering the hardware space, with some sort of "Google Cube," a small box with various wireless ports, which could be used to connect a personal computer, stereo, or personal video recorder.

"In fact, Google could over time become more of a hardware company than anything else," Peck wrote in a research note.

Shares of Google, a Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine, were up $5.64 to $445.79 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, after earlier changing hands as high as $446.21, surpassing the prior year-high of $432.50 reached Friday. Shares of Time Warner, which have traded between $16.10 and $19.74 over the last year, were down 2 cents, at $17.97, in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051219/google_mover.html?.v=1