• Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Friday, May 28, 2010 1:21 PM

Bloomberg BusinessWeek takes a look at the trading floor that Google recently set up to manage its $26.5 billion in cash and short-term investments. "One of the company's goals is to improve the returns on its money, which until now has been managed conservatively," it writes.

While Google doesn't disclose its rate of return on investments, analyst Aaron Kessler of ThinkEquity estimates the company's 2010 return -- including interest income and realized and unrealized gains before tax -- at around 2.5%. That return, Kessler tells Bloomberg, is actually higher the other large internet company, including Yahoo and Amazon. Presently, Google is buying back shares in the wake of its $750 million acquisition of AdMob, which was apparently an all-stock deal. What else does Google plan to do with its money? "Google could do 10 Palm kind of deals," Michael Yoshikami, president and chief investment strategist of YCMNET Advisors, which owns Google shares, tells Bloomberg. "That would be a pretty decent use of their money."

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