With the search business sorted out through the Microsoft (MSFT) deal, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) is beginning to focus on other areas. The company announced two new initiatives to boost revenue.

The first is the expansion of its sales force in Southeast Asia. Internet usage in the region has been growing rapidly over the last few years, driving increasing interest in online advertising. Online advertising industries in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are expected to grow around 60% between 2008 and 2010.

The newly appointed direct sales team will join forces with the existing Singapore-based team to develop localized marketing campaigns in Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The idea is to sell online advertising in form of display, search or through a mobile platform. We think this is a pertinent move and it is time Yahoo started cementing relationships in the region.

The second initiative

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Those looking for answers on the Internet are in luck. Up and coming company eDOORWAYS Corporation will soon be launching their new search engine platform that aims to revolutionize the way users interact with the Internet. With a promise to “Solve Your Problems,” the eDOORWAYS platform integrates advanced search technologies to create an exciting new brand, solving lifestyle problems for consumers and driving traffic through the physical and/or virtual doorways of goods and service providers. The company anticipates a strong interest from young, Internet-savvy adults who rely on the Web for quick and effective solutions.

eDOORWAYS offers an innovative solutions network which connects local businesses with consumers in need of immediate answers, goods or services. Its network of people and small businesses offer expert assistance on a level never before possible. Through its cutting edge method of harnessing web resources, eDOORWAYS is

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Local.com (NASDAQ: LOCM) is recognized as the largest local search network in the United States. The company provides more than 19 million consumers each month with the most relevant search results for local businesses, products and services on Local.com and 700+ regional media sites. According to Internet research firm comScore, Local.com’s traffic has consistently ranked in the Top 100 U.S. websites.

Recently, the company announced that it has acquired about 14,000 local business advertisers from LiveDeal, Inc. for up to $3.1 million in cash. This acquisition brought Local.com’s total number of small business customers to approximately 30,000, more than half way to its stated goal of 50,000 by the end of this year. Excluding one-time acquisition related charges, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive and yield a significant margin contribution.

Despite the downturn in the economy, Local.com reported 78% growth in revenue for full year 2008 when compared to the

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The markets ended the day down after some large gains earlier due to the banks who fell after key credit card legislation made it’s way through the House. The Dow down 0.6% while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ finished the day down 0.51% and 0.39% respectively. The 10 year finally saw its yields decrease to 3.19% after the government hinted about speeding up their repurchase program. Gold and oil settled up to close at $937.90 and $61.68 respectively.The market ended down as American Express [AXP: 23.98, -0.81 (-3.27%)] stated that the new credit card bill passed by the House will require credit card issuers to curb lending to those who may require it. It appears that credit card companies will respond in their own fashion to regulation by tightening lending standards as they see fit. In other financial sector news, Treasury Secretary Geithner was on Capitol Hill

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Two months after Hearst announced its intentions to divest or shut down the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Seattle PI is set to become the largest and (arguably) the first newspaper to convert from print to web only delivery. This comes after the Christian Science Monitor announced intentions to cancel daily print editions in favor of a web centric strategy supplemented by weekly print editions. 

While the recession may have sped up this migration, increasing penetration of internet readership and the mainstreaming of news aggregators which pay no production costs has been spelling doom for the traditional newspaper industry for years. Little information is available about Seattle PI’s internet strategy, but this switch does raise some questions. The newspaper has slashed staff from 140 to 20-25.

My guess is that the the new venture will focus on editorial and

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With the onset of 2009, Beijing is cracking down on web portals and search engines that publish material deemed to be too vulgar or subversive for the nation’s 300 million-plus Internet users. Chinese authorities have reportedly implemented new software that lets them more easily track and counter threats, and have issued stern warnings to industry leaders such as Baidu.com Inc. (ADR: BIDU) and Google Inc. (GOOG).

The government earlier this week cited 19 Web sites - including Baidu, Google, Sohu, Sina, and Tianya - as purveyors of vulgar content that is morally or politically destructive.

Some results produced by search engines had “large amounts of pornographic links [and] after notification from the complaint center, the site did not take effective countermeasures,” the State Council Information Office said in a statement.

“Some Web sites have exploited loopholes in laws and regulations,” said Cai Minzhao, deputy chief of the Information

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With good returns so far since I profiled Caraco Pharma (CPD) as a defensive growth stock at a value price, a related company in the ETF Innovators [ETFI] Global Healthcare Cost Containment Index with similar value parameters is Home Diagnostics (HDIX) – which makes affordable blood glucose monitoring systems and disposable testing supplies [web link to HDIX product page] under its own brand names (such as TRUE and Prestige) and co-branded partnerships with leading retail pharmacies such as Rite Aid (RAD), Walgreen (WAG), and CVS Caremark (CVS) as value-priced, store-branded products. The accompanying 3-year chart [click to enlarge] illustrates that HDIX has lost more than half of its market value since its IPO in late 2006, underperforming both the Healthcare ...

Jerry Yang, Yahoo Inc.’s (YHOO) co-founder and chief executive officer, today (Tuesday) stepped down from his post under heavy shareholder pressure. Yang will return to his former role as board member and “Chief Yahoo!” – a non-so-flattering, if not ironic, title considering the heavy criticism he took in the past year – upon the appointment of his replacement.

Yang was elected CEO in June 2007, his second go-around at that post. Since then, Yahoo’s market value has fallen by more than $20 billion, according to Bloomberg.

To be fair, Yahoo was already losing its market share to Google Inc. (GOOG) and a healthy percent of its share value as a result.

But Yang was brought back to fix that.

There was a deep feeling within Yahoo’s ranks that Yang wasn’t fit to continue leading the company out of the mire – or least into a

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The recruitment industry is getting whacked right along with most other sectors right now. But Penny Sleuth's Tom Bulford sees strong potential for Hexagon Human Capital (LON:HHC). The company is well protected from the purge in the financial sector and has a solid cash flow. Tom says this is one to watch for the future...

Good CEOs versus Bad CEOsStockerblog.com had the pleasure of recently interviewing Ken Fisher, head of the $30 billion Fisher Asset Management, a very long time Forbes columnist, and author of the books Super Stocks, The Wall Street Waltz, 100 Minds That Made the Market, and The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't. He is also coming out with a new book in the Fall, The Ten Roads to Riches: The Way the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!), published by Wiley.If you missed Part 1 of the interview, you can see it here, and if you missed Part 2, you can ...