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Share of Marchex have been on a tear of late up over 50% in the last month and over 100% in the past year and have hit a new 52 week high today of $6.30

As of publications shares of Marchex are trading at $6.30 up over 6% on the day.

A month ago on April 29th, shares were trading at $4.08 a share meaning that shares of Marchex are trading more than 50% higher than just one month ago.

The 52 week low for the stock is $2.99 meaning you could have doubled your money had you bought Marchex shares at the low back in June 2012, and sold it today.

Marchex reported earnings on May 2, 2013 beating estimates for revenue and profits.

Marchex’s market cap is back over $220 million dollars.

Last time we covered the stock in June 2012  it was trading at less than the acquisition cost of Yun Ye’s portfolio with a market cap of just $106 million dollars.

Times have changed and for those that grabbed some shares of Marchex the last time we wrote about it, have seen a nice profit, certainly beating the return of Apple in the same time frame.

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According to Bloomberg.com, Google is facing a new Antitrust Probe Over Display Ads by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission

According to the story the FCC is looking into “into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition”

The story goes on to say that the investigation is in the preliminary stage and may not expand into a larger probe

“FTC investigators are examining whether Google is using its position in U.S. display ads — a $17.7 billion industry that includes the sale of banner ads on websites — to push companies to use more of its other services, a practice that can be illegal under antitrust laws, the people said. Google has been drawing regulatory scrutiny around the world as it bolsters its market share of digital advertising.”

The story goes on to say that  “Canada’s Competition Bureau is preparing to start a formal inquiry into Google’s search practices, the company disclosed last week and The European Union is investigating Google for the way it operates the search business.  Antitrust agencies in Argentina and South Korea are also scrutinizing the company.”

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Back In February we told you that Warren Buffets’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased 3,685,700 shares  of Verisign (VRSN) which at the time of acquisition represented an investment of around $165 Million dollars.

Today according to Cnbc.com,  Berkshire Hathaway added another 4.49 million shares last quarter and now owns 5.35% of VeriSign.

“”While the introduction of a new category of “top level domains” (such as .aero for aviation businesses or .mobi for mobile websites) does increase the competition faced by VeriSign, the new naming options aren’t likely to steal share from the dot-com domains. ”

“Instead, firms are likely to just register both names.”

“VeriSign’s exclusive contracts with ICANN offer an attractive economic moat for the firm.

“Because increases in registration fees are built into those contracts, VeriSign will be able to generate attractive growth over the course of the next several years without needing to work for it.”

The reporter for CNBC.com doesn’t seem to understand what is going to happen in the new gTLD program and certainly we can and have debated what the effect of the new gTLD program will be on existing domain names for years now.

The reporters statement that attempts to summarize the threat from new gTLD’s to Verisign’s  as “firms are likely to just register both names.” shows a great lack of knowledge on the subject.

Moreover Verisign no longer has that guaranteed rate increase and that part of the story is just wrong.

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Tucows Inc. (NYSE AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC), reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 after the market closed today

According to reports Tucows missed expectations as to both earnings and revenue.

Net revenue for the first quarter of 2013 increased 9% to a record $30.0 million from $27.5 million for the first quarter of 2012.

Net income for the first quarter of 2013 was $0.1 million, or $0.00 per share, compared with $1.7 million, or $0.04 per share, for the first quarter of 2012.

It looks like domain name slowed to just over $1.1 million dollars for the quarter which is down from $1.9 million from the same quarter a year ago.

While those in the domain community know Tucows as a domain name registrar, a new gTLD application  and an owner of a very nice domain portifollo it seems the company is most excited about its wireless service Ting.

“The first quarter was a solid start to 2013, highlighted by our twelfth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth to another record total,” said Elliot Noss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tucows Inc. ”

“We are even more excited about Ting, which is now demonstrating real momentum”.

Our customer base grew by 2,000 in Q2 2012, 3,000 in Q3, 5,000 in Q4 and now over 6,300 in Q1 2013.

Gross margin per account is growing as customers gain confidence in the service and add additional devices.

More customers are referring more of their friends to Ting. Timelines are shortening between our network provider, Sprint, getting coveted devices like the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy 4 and us offering these devices to our customers. With all these trends in our favor, we have every reason to believe our momentum will continue.”

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter of 2013 were $4.3 million compared with $6.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012 and $6.4 million from the end of the first quarter of 2012.

The Company used $6.5 million to repurchase shares under its modified “Dutch auction” tender that concluded on January 7, 2013, under which the Company repurchased 4,114,121 million shares at a purchase price of $1.50 per share.

We will be listening in to the earnings call set for 5pm.

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Shares of Google (GOOG) are currently trading above $900 a share an all time high for the company.

It was only 3 months ago that shares of Google hit $800 a share.

Its was just a few months earlier when shares of Apple and Google were trading at the same $600 level.

Shares at time of publication are  trading at $905 up over $18 a share.

Google’s market cap is now over $300 Billion.

Google is trading at a price earnings (PE)  of 27.

Google IPO was at $85 a share and shares have never been split.

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Trulia, Inc. (NYSE: TRLA, “Trulia”),announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Market Leader, Inc. (NASDAQ: LEDR, “Market Leader”),  for approximately $355 million, or an implied price of $11.33 per share (based on Trulia’s closing share price on Tuesday, May 7, 2013).

MarketLeader.com you might remember bought the domain name RealEstate.com back just in 2011 for $8.25 million dollars.

At the time we noted that the company only had a market cap of $55 Million dollars.

Less than 2 years later the company looks like its being bought by Trulia for 7 times that amount

Market Leader’s shareholders will receive $6.00 in cash and 0.1553 shares of Trulia’s common stock for each share of Market Leader common stock under the terms of the agreement that was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The purchase price represents an 18% premium to Market Leader’s closing share price of $9.61 on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

The acquisition is subject to the approval of the holders of a majority of the shares of Market Leader’s common stock, as well as customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

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Web.com Group, Inc. (WWWW), which owns the top 10 domain name registrars, NetworkSolutions.com and Register.com announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 on Thursday night.

After reporting results shares of the company hit an all time high on Friday

Here are the highlights:

• Added 21,000 net new subscribers, ending the quarter at 3.03 million subscribers
• Average Revenue Per User of $13.89 grew $0.12 sequentially
• Completed second debt re-financing increasing total annualized interest savings to $18 million

“Web.com delivered a strong performance to start 2013, with first quarter revenue and profitability exceeding the high end of our guidance,” said David Brown, Chairman and CEO of Web.com.

“The successful expansion of our average revenue per user and 3 million plus subscriber base is improving the long-term growth profile of Web.com. We also remain focused on maintaining our strong margins and looking for opportunities to further enhance profitability, such as our recent debt re-financings that are expected to drive annualized interest savings of more than $18 million.”

Summary of First Quarter 2013 Financial Results:

• Total revenue, calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), was $115.5 million for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $91.5 million for the first quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP revenue was $128.1 million for the first quarter of 2013, up 7% on a year-over-year basis and above the high end of the company’s guidance range of $126.5 million to $128.0 million.
• GAAP operating loss was $2.5 million for the first quarter of 2013. For the first quarter of 2012, the company reported a GAAP operating loss of $18.5 million. Non-GAAP operating income was $34.2 million for the first quarter of 2013, an increase from $32.0 million for the first quarter of 2012, and representing a non-GAAP operating margin of 27%.
• GAAP net loss from continuing operations was $46.5 million, or ($0.97) per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013, including a $19.5 million charge for a loss related to debt extinguishment. GAAP net loss from continuing operations was $29.8 million, or ($0.65) per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2012. Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations was $24.5 million for the first quarter of 2013, or $0.48 per diluted share, up 37% on a year-over-year basis and above the company’s guidance of $0.44 to $0.46 per diluted share. The Company had non-GAAP net income of $17.2 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2012.
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Neustar, Inc. (NSR), announced results for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 and affirmed its guidance for 2013.

Neustar is the backend provider for several TLD’s including .Us and .Co and hundreds of new gTLD’s and is going to operate the .NYC extension on behalf of the city of New York

The company also announced that it plans to purchase up to $250 million of its Class A common shares beginning May 7, 2013 through December 31, 2013.

Results for First Quarter 2013 Compared to First Quarter 2012

• Revenue increased 8% to $216.4 million
• Non-NPAC revenue increased 10% to $107.1 million
• Net income decreased 1% to $33.8 million, including the impact of a $10.9 million charge for the loss on debt modification and extinguishment
• Net income per share was flat at $0.50

Non-GAAP Results for First Quarter 2013 Compared to First Quarter 2012

• Adjusted net income increased 23% to $54.1 million, representing a 25% margin
• Adjusted net income per share increased 25% to $0.80

Discussion of First Quarter Results

Consolidated revenue totaled $216.4 million, an 8% increase from $199.6 million in the first quarter of 2012. This $16.8 million increase included growth in all three of our operating segments. In particular:

• Carrier Services revenue totaled $132.2 million, a 6% increase from $124.4 million in 2012. This increase was primarily due to a $7.5 million increase in NPAC Services revenue;
• Enterprise Services revenue totaled $44.8 million, a 13% increase from $39.5 million in 2012. This increase was due to higher revenue in both Internet Infrastructure and Registry Services; and
• Information Services revenue totaled $39.5 million, a 10% increase from $35.7 million in 2012. This increase was primarily due to higher revenue in Verification and Analytics Services.

Operating expense totaled $145.6 million, an 8% increase from $135.2 million in the first quarter of 2012. This increase was primarily due to the expansion of the companys operations. In particular, stock-based compensation increased $5.1 million driven by performance-based equity that was granted to a broader employee base.

Cash, cash equivalents and investments totaled $378.2 million as of March 31, 2013, compared to $343.9 million as of December 31, 2012. T

Business Outlook for 2013

The company affirmed its guidance for revenue and adjusted net income provided on February 5, 2013:

• Revenue to range from $895 million to $915 million
• Adjusted net income to range from $220 million to $230 million
• Adjusted net income per share to range from $3.28 to $3.43
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VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 reported revenue of $236 million for the first quarter of 2013, up 15% from the same quarter in 2012.

Verisign reported the quarter ended with 123.1 million .com/.net domain name registered a 5.5% increase year over year.

Verisign reported net income of $85 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52 for the first quarter of 2013, compared to net income of $68 million and diluted EPS of $0.42 in the same quarter in 2012.

The operating margin was 56.4 percent for the first quarter of 2013 compared to 48.1 percent for the same quarter in 2012.

And of course that is without the guaranteed rate increases the Verisign enjoyed for the 6 year contract period that ended in 2012.

Share of Verisign which rose 1.5% in its regular session where up as much as 7% in after hours trading are no marginally up at $46.50 after opening the day at $45.49

Verisign ended the first quarter with Cash, Cash Equivalents, Marketable Securities and Restricted Cash of $1.57 billion, an increase of $9 million from year-end 2012.

• Cash flow from operations was $151 million for the first quarter compared with $110 million for the same quarter in 2012.

• Deferred revenues on March 31, 2013, totaled $847 million, an increase of $34 million from year-end 2012.

• Capital expenditures were $17 million in the first quarter of 2013.

• During the first quarter, Verisign repurchased approximately 3.0 million shares of its common stock for a cost of approximately $132 million. At March 31, 2013, approximately $844 million remained available and authorized under the current share repurchase program.

 Business Highlights

• Verisign Registry Services added 1.99 million net new names and ended the first quarter with 123.1 million active domain names in the zone for .com and .net, representing a 5.5 percent increase year over year.

• In the first quarter, Verisign processed 8.8 million new domain name registrations as compared to 8.9 million for the same quarter a year prior.
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Google Inc. its earnings after the market closed today, reporting a first-quarter profit of $3.35 billion, or $9.94 a share, compared with a profit of $2.89 billion, or $8.75 a share, for the year-earlier period.

Shares of Google are up just marginally after the report.

Google ends the 1st quarter with over $50 Billion in the bank.

Here are the details:

Google Inc. reported consolidated revenues of $13.97 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, an increase of 31% compared to the first quarter of 2012.

            Google Revenues (advertising and other) – Google revenues were $12.95 billion, or 93% of consolidated  revenues, in the first quarter of 2013, representing a 22% increase over first quarter 2012 revenues of $10.65 billion.