SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 (Reuters) – Baidu Inc posted
a roughly 70 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Monday,
beating Wall Street’s forecast, as the Chinese Internet search
company said it continued making progress on increasing its
number of customers.

Shares of Baidu, which hit an 18-month low last week on
concerns that a weakening Chinese economy would hurt its big
clients, were up roughly 6 percent after hours.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Facebook Inc (FB.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) ramped up federal lobbying spending in the second quarter, as the Internet companies chatted up government officials about everything from online advertising and immigration reform to self-driving cars.

Google, the world’s No. 1 Web search engine, increased federal lobbying spending by 90 percent year-on-year, spending $3.92 million in the second quarter to lobby officials with the U.S. Congress, the executive office of the president and various federal agencies.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 (Reuters) – Google Inc and
Facebook Inc ramped up federal lobbying spending in the
second quarter, as the Internet companies chatted up government
officials about everything from online advertising and
immigration reform to self-driving cars.

Google, the world’s No. 1 Web search engine, increased
federal lobbying spending by 90 percent year-on-year, spending
$3.92 million in the second quarter to lobby officials with the
U.S. Congress, the executive office of the president and various
federal agencies.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc faces immense pressure to beat Wall Street’s financial targets when its delivers its inaugural quarterly earnings report next week, hoping to wash away the bad taste left with investors from a soured IPO.

The No. 1 social networking company’s second-quarter report on July 26 will be scrutinized by investors looking for clues on the health of its business, which is experiencing a sharp slowdown in revenue growth and mounting questions about its advertising sales.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc’s revenue increased 21 percent as strength in its Internet advertising business offset a persisting drop in ad rates, stirring hopes among investors the Web search leader is close to slowing that decline.

Shares of Google were up about 3 percent in after hours trade.

Advertising rates, or costs per click, have headed south as users gravitate to smartphones and tablets, where Google can generally charge less than on desktop computers.

By Alexei Oreskovic and Peter Lauria

(Reuters) – New Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s compensation package could total more than $70 million in salary, bonuses, restricted stock and stock options over five years, according to a regulatory filing made by the company Thursday.

Mayer’s pay package is broken out into $1 million in annual salary, as much as $2 million in an annual bonus, and $42 million in stock options and other awards, as well as $14 million in “make whole restricted options” for forfeiture of compensation from Google Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc’s (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) revenue for its core Internet business rose 21 percent in the second quarter, as strength in Web search advertising offset falling ad rates.

Shares of Google were up about 3 percent at $611 in after-hours trading on Thursday.

By Alexei Oreskovic and Jessica Wohl

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is about to add the biggest retail players to his list of friends.

Zuckerberg and his senior management team will spend two days at Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s Bentonville, Arkansas home office this week, meeting with executives of the world’s largest retailer and discussing ways to “deepen” their relationship.

July 19 (Reuters) – Google Inc’s (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) core Internet
business boosted revenue 21 percent in the second quarter,
while its recently acquired Motorola Mobility business raised
Google’s overall revenue to $12.21 billion.

Google reported second-quarter net income of $2.79 billion,
or $8.42 per share, on a consolidated basis.