What Could Google Buy with $42.6 Billion? Plenty!

Now that Netflix is in trouble solely due to its own executive mismanagement, buying the Los Gatos, Calif.-based entertainment site might bolster Google's entertainment presence and make it more formidable against bitter rival Apple, as then as Amazon, Hulu and other sites.

Look at Akamai: That's a manager in the media management sector. Akamai, based in Cambridge, Mass., would be cheaper than Netflix and keep Google in the business-to-business sector.

Buy more network support companies like Rackable or Level 3. Google spends fortunes to support its computer backbone with worldwide server farms and huge installations in remote locations. Acquiring some pure-play backbone companies might make the job easier.

Candidates could include Level 3 Communications, based in Broomfield, Colo., which as well supports voice-over-Internet-protocol communications, which might be helpful now that Microsoft has all things considered acquired Skype. The market capitalization is $2.98 billion and enterprise value a fat $9.84 billion.

Two more are Limelight Networks, based in Tempe, Ariz., valued around $324 million, with enterprise value of $220 million, and Rackspace Hosting, of San Antonio, valued around $5.2 billion, with enterprise value of $5.14 billion.

Keep tabs on specialty players that add value. Last quarter, Google acquired Zagat, the New York restaurant reviewer, for a reported $200 million. That boosted Google against Apple, Yahoo and Yelp.

There are dozens of smaller sites, book publishers and game companies that might fit into Google. A small universe of business analytics and database companies is around, as so then.