When Google CEO Eric Schmidt said "business is very, very good here" during the company's third-quarter 2006 results announcement, he wasn't exaggerating.

In fact, the search giant has had one heck of a year. Its third-quarter profit almost doubled from the same period last year, and its current stock value has soared past the US$500-mark--not bad, considering its IPO price was a mere US$85 two years ago.

Google has also been on a buying spree over the last 12 months, snapping up other major players in the Internet market including online video star YouTube and wiki builder JotSpot.

Its status in the new Web era was further cemented when the word "Google" was officially recognized as a verb by English-language dictionaries Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary.

The year 2007, and beyond, will likely see Google keeping busy with its YouTube acquisition and initiatives such as its open source software hosting site and ambitious plan to rope in new partners for its colossal Book Library Project.

Google remains one of the top 5 most popular Web sites, with 112 international domain sites that serve a unique user base of 380 million each month worldwide. More than half of its traffic derives from outside the United States.

Google ranks among ZDNet Asia's Top 10 fastest-growing companies for 2006/07.

This company is listed in Internet.