But [Google's offer] was less than the $53 million valuation that Benchmark and Kleiner were willing to set on Friendster during the latest investment round.

Clearly, the Friendster folk's priorities are a bit different than mine would be: I'd accept any multi-million dollar buy-out, and cash the check ASAP.

[At the Sep. WTO meeting] there was also a striking new development: the emergence of a coalition of not-so-poor nations that no longer fit the profile of either have or have-not. Calling itself the Group of 20-plus, the bloc was conceived by Brazil and India as a way to bring together large, resource-rich and economically dynamic nations from the South — a not strictly geographical label since it includes China as well as Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico and Argentina.