Peter's Interest

Google Inc's shares closed up 16.3% at $699.62 on Friday, adding about $65 billion to its market value, as strong growth in YouTube viewership eased investor concerns about Facebook Inc's push into video. Google's class A shares chalked up their largest single-day percentage change in more than seven years on Friday. The surge, which comes a day after it reported better-than-expected profit for the first time in six quarters, sent the Nasdaq composite index to a record intraday high. The rise in Google's market value was more than the total market capitalization of Caterpillar Inc, the world's biggest construction equipment maker. Google's shares hit a record high of $703, valuing it at $471.50 billion and cementing its position as the world's second most valuable company after Apple Inc. At least 27 brokerages raised price targets on Google's stock, with analysts also welcoming new chief financial officer Ruth Porat's emphasis on disciplined spen...

ASPEN: Google-owned YouTube is seeing "accelerating" growth despite competition from Facebook and others in video, YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki said.  Wojcicki said she is pleased with the growth in people watching videos on the service, and that YouTube still stands apart even though Facebook claims to have more video views.  "We have an amazing base, we have over a billion users," she told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference. "Our watch time year on year is growing over 50%...It is still accelerating."  Wojcicki said there is also a qualitative difference between watching video on Facebook compared with YouTube.  "Facebook views are different. They are in a feed. They are auto play," she said.  "Our users are actually clicking. We want our users engaged. We want them not just channel surfing. We want them to say I saw that video, I cared about that video. I commented on it."  Wojcicki said it is not a surprise that Faceb...