• Dow Jones, Wednesday, September 2, 2009 2:40 PM

Google chief exec Eric Schmidt says the company is so over the recession, and poised to begin "seriously looking at acquisitions again," reports The Nikkei.

In what areas is the notoriously ambitious company looking to invest? Barring the off chance that some key qualifier was lost in translation, Google won't be wagering another $3.1 billion anytime soon (as it agreed to do back in April 2007 for DoubleClick.) Rather, it is setting its sights on venture-stage firms poised for growth, according to the Japanese newspaper.

In particular, cloud computing -- in which data is stored on the Internet rather than on a personal computer -- is a specialty that Google has experimented with in the past, and could invest further. In that vein, just last month, it acquired On2 Technologies, a manufacturer of video compression software.

Imminent acquisitions or not, what's notable is Schmidt's continued bullishness on cloud computing, along with his contention that Microsoft "is having trouble moving to cloud computing."

How does Schmidt plan on countering Microsoft's new partnership with Yahoo? By focusing on "innovation" -- as if it doesn't already -- and seeking similar partnerships with other firms on Web searching and advertising, according to The Nikkei.

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