Google Posts Strong Earnings, Sets Stock Split: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet Friday include Google(GOOG) after the Internet search engine announced a two-for-one stock split and strong quarterly earnings.

Google reported first-quarter earnings of $10.08 per share on revenue of $8.14 billion, excluding traffic acquisition costs. The company reported total revenue of $10.65 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of $8.146 billion, excluding traffic acquisition costs, and earnings of $9.65 a share.

Revenue in the U.S. rose 22% year over year to $4.9 billion.

Google said it would be creating a new class of stock, effectively issuing a stock split that is "designed to preserve the corporate structure that has allowed Google to remain focused on the long term." The new class of stock won't have any voting power and will help Google's senior leaders retain control years from now.

Microsoft(MSFT) is trending as the software maker has shaken up its management following the sudden departure of Simon Leung, CEO of the company's China region.

Leung, who is leaving for personal and family reasons, will be replaced by Ralph Hauptner, currently vice-president at Microsoft Germany. Microsoft has reshuffled some of its other top executives in light of the move, with Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft U.K., exchanging roles with chief operating officer for greater China, Michel van der Bel.

Leung will step down from his position at the end of the month and will remain an adviser until August. In his role, he has overseen efforts to fight piracy and improve property rights protection, two main focuses that will be adopted by Hauptner in his new position.

George Soros is another popular search after the billionaire investor has spoken out about the eurzone, saying the crisis in the region has entered what he calls a potentially more "lethal" phase.

In an op-ed piece Soros wrote for the Financial Times, he said that the European Central Bank's capital injection did spark a global rally but hid "underlying deterioration" in the eurozone. Soros said the region's fundamental problems have not been solved, and while the crisis may have entered a less volatile phase, it could be more a more lethal one as well.