Daily Tech Snippet: Friday, October 30

• Alphabet Edges Toward Settling the Android or Chrome Question: For years, Google, now known as Alphabet, has supported two operating systems on two very different tracks: Android and Chrome. But now the company is nodding in the direction of Android. Google is working toward allowing its low-cost Chromebook computing devices to work on the popular Android operating system. The work will take place over the next year, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Google is not indicating it plans to stop development of Chrome OS, but making Android work on Chromebooks opens the door to one of the few products that Chrome OS, the lesser-known operating system, had to itself. Chrome OS should not be confused with Google’s popular Chrome web browser. The first Android operating system for mobile devices was introduced about seven years ago as a direct competitor to Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. Since then, it has become the most widely used operating system in the world. Its development was led by an executive named Andy Rubin, who went on to lead much of the company’s robotics efforts before leaving Google last year. Google introduced Chrome OS about a year later, surprising some who wondered why the company needed two operating systems. Interestingly, its early development was led by Sundar Pichai, who is now the chief executive of the part of Alphabet that is still called Google. Chrome OS has gained a following in academia but very few other places. According to IDC, a market research firm, about 3.9 million Chromebooks were shipped to the American education sector last year. If Google should drop the Chrome OS, it will follow in the footsteps of Microsoft. The latest version of Microsoft’s flagship Windows operating system is meant to run on both PCs and mobile devices. Apple still supports separate operating systems for mobile devices and PCs.

• Amazon Launches ‘Pay With Amazon’ Buttons for Mobile Apps: Amazon says it is finally ready to turn its huge customer base into a big payments business outside of Amazon. For real this time. The e-commerce giant is bringing its “Pay with Amazon” buttons to mobile apps, while “tripling down” on placing its Pay with Amazon buttons on websites in overseas markets like Japan. The moves are the latest in the company’s on-again, off-again efforts to take advantage of the more than 200 million customer accounts it has on file by processing payments on websites outside of its own walls. Earlier this year, Amazon hired PayPal vet Patrick Gauthier to lead a newly created team dedicated solely to building a payments business across the Web and app world. The payments industry is watching closely. For years, it has been waiting for Amazon to become a real player, perhaps challenging PayPal along the way.

• Baidu’s Profit Tops Estimates Even as Spending Rises - Revenue up 36%, Shares pop 7%: Baidu Inc. kept spending under enough control to report a third-quarter profit that topped projections, giving the Chinese Internet search provider more room to boost a share buyback program to $2 billion. Revenue climbed 36 percent to 18.4 billion yuan ($2.89 billion), matching estimates. The board authorized a new block of share repurchases, after completing a $1 billion buyback program in the latest quarter, the Beijing-based company said in statement Friday. Chairman and Founder Robin Li is betting new services including home delivery and online video will drive growth beyond the company’s mainstay search advertising business. Baidu said this week its Qunar travel site will form an alliance and swap shares with rival Ctrip.com, the latest move toward consolidation in China’s Internet industry. Baidu Inc. kept spending under enough control to report a third-quarter profit that topped projections, giving the Chinese Internet search provider more room to boost a share buyback program to $2 billion. Adjusted earnings per ADS was $1.43 a share, exceeding the $1.28 average of analyst projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue climbed 36 percent to 18.4 billion yuan ($2.89 billion), matching estimates. The board authorized a new block of share repurchases, after completing a $1 billion buyback program in the latest quarter, the Beijing-based company said in statement Friday. Chairman and Founder Robin Li is betting new services including home delivery and online video will drive growth beyond the company’s mainstay search advertising business. Baidu said this week its Qunar travel site will form an alliance and swap shares with rival Ctrip.com, the latest move toward consolidation in China’s Internet industry. Baidu’s three major new businesses, video service iQiyi, online commerce site Nuomi and travel site Qunar, remain loss-making, dragging on profit generated by its core search advertising business. By taking a 25 percent stake in Ctrip, in return for 45 percent of Qunar, Baidu intends to cut costs and benefit from reduced competition. That may affect Baidu’s revenue.

• Microsoft Sells $13 Billion of Bonds in Month's Busiest Day: Microsoft tapped the bond market for $13 billion Thursday, its biggest sale ever, in the busiest session of the month for high-grade issuers. The seven-part deal eclipsed a mark set just eight months ago by the tech giant as it raises money to repurchase stock and repay existing debt. It sold its longest portion, a 40-year bond, at a yield that was 1.8 percentage points more than comparable government debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company sold $3 billion of 10-year notes at a spread of 0.18 percentage point more than its similar maturity debt in the secondary market on Wednesday. “This is a banner year for tech issuance, so they needed to price wide to get people to take down $13 billion,” CreditSights Inc. analyst Jordan Chalfin said in an interview. “For Microsoft, an extra five-10 basis points doesn’t really matter. Their debt-funded share buybacks are very accretive for equity holders.” Microsoft, one of only three non-financial companies with top AAA credit ratings, said in a filing on Thursday that it will use the proceeds for anything from working capital to stock repurchases and repayment of existing debt.

• LinkedIn Earnings Beat Expectations With $780M In Revenue, Stock Jumps 9%: LinkedIn handily beat analyst expectations today with revenue of $780 million and earnings of 78 cents per share. Analysts were expecting earnings of 45 cents per share on about $756 million in revenue. LinkedIn shares promptly spiked as much as 8 percent in extended trading. In total, the company’s revenue grew 37 percent year-over-year, up from around $568 million in the third quarter last year. The company’s Talent Solutions division was its fastest growing segment, up 46 percent year-over-year to $502 million in revenue. Marketing solutions grew 28 percent to $140 million in revenue, while subscription revenue grew 21 percent year-over-year to $138 million to round out the rest of the company’s revenue report. LinkedIn’s domestic growth continues at a healthy clip, up to $484 million in revenue from $343 million in the third quarter last year, up 41 percent. Its international segment is still not quite as large as its domestic business, but was still up from $225 million to $295 million, a jump of 31 percent. Basically, its domestic business is performing stronger than its international business — which is not all that surprising given the big presence and brand it has in the U.S. So, as expected, the company’s recruiting segment continues to be one of its fastest-growing. LinkedIn has basically become the go-to service for what are effectively a more modern form of resumes, making it a gold mine for recruiters seeking new talent. So it’s not all that surprising that recruiting and the company’s Talent Solutions division is one of its most important — and getting a lot of attention. The company has two new launches coming up — its referrals product in November, and a new revamped Recruiter platform coming early next year. Both those products are geared toward better automating the process, and eliminating redundant tasks, of searching for new recruits.