Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, July 20, 2018

Article Excerpt

ALPHABET INC., Nasdaq symbols GOOG (class C non-voting), $1,184.91, and GOOGL (class A voting), $1,197.88, is the holding company for Google’s Internet search business and its smaller, riskier operations. The company calls those smaller businesses its “Other Bets”; they sell home thermostats and self-driving car technology, among other tech products. This week, European Union regulators fined the company $5 billion for violating its anti-trust rules. The company can easily afford this payment—as of March 31, 2018, it held cash and investments of $102.9 billion, or $148.05 a share. Right now, Google lets mobile phone makers install its Android operating software for free. However, they also have to pre-install the Chrome web browser and other apps. That helps drive users to Google’s websites, and increases the revenue it earns from selling ads related to web searches. The EU regulators felt that this business model prevents competition from other web search services. Google plans to appeal the ruling. Meantime, it will probably adjust its policies to…