The internet | The battle of the portals | Economist.com

The internet | The battle of the portals | Economist.com

I would bet on YAHOO and Google to win the "portal wars". A reader pointed out to me that I seldom write about YAHOO even though my family has owned it long before Google shares were available. The reader is right. YAHOO is solid. It is doing things the old way well. Google is exciting because it is changing the world. YAHOO has a lock on about 12 million paying customers and is second in advertising search earnings. Google is not as safe of a bet as is YAHOO but it is putting up great growth numbers.

Googles earnings are up, but there may be charges for some of the law suits against Google. The competition is taking turns encouraging law suits in an attempt to beat back Googlelong enough in the courts for the competition to catch up. The competition has a long way to go.