Google-mania

Here we go again! What are we going to call it this time, the Web 2.0 bubble?

In case you missed it, Google's rapidly rising profits soared to new heights in the third quarter as its Internet-leading search engine churned out a sevenfold earnings increase that blew past analyst expectations.

Seriously, I wonder how many people even understand how Google generates its sales, let alone how it managed to it make $381.2 million during the three months ended in September (compared with net income of $52 million a year ago).

Wall Street has responded by running up the price of Google's stock (GOOG) to almost $340 per share. That means Google's market cap (the price of its stock times the total number of shares outstanding) is rapidly approaching $100 billion!

By comparison, both GM and Ford each have a market cap worth just under $16 billion. HP is worth just under $80 billion, while Verizon and Time-Warner are both worth just over $80 billion.

Do you remember when the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium was going to be named CMGI Field, or when AOL purchased Time-Warner? That was back when Internet fever was sweeping the land. Does Google's soaring stock price imply a market relapse?