We’ve written about Greplin a couple of times – once after the service launched, and again last week, when the company sent users an email with some new updates. If you’re unfamiliar with the service, the best way to describe it is truly personalized search. 

Although it arguably doesn’t need much more support at this point, popular social network Facebook now has the backing of one of Silicon Valley’s most respected venture capital firms.  Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is said to be investing about $38 million at a valuation of $52 billion.

Late last week, reports indicated that several different companies (including Facebook and Google) have shown interest in acquiring Twitter for $8 billion to $10 billion.  Now, although nothing’s certain, fresh rumors indicate that investors might assign a similar value to Zynga.

Slacker has raised $3 million in debt funding according to a SEC filing. This adds to the growing number of music startups that have gained additional funds in 2011. While Slacker is known more commonly as a rival to Pandora in the coming months, they will be taking MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody, and Thumbplay Music head-on in the subscription music service sector.

eBay said it expects double-digit annual revenue and earnings growth over the next three years. The company outlined its growth plans in a meeting yesterday. eBay expects revenues to reach at least $13 billion in 2013 (compared to $9 billion in 2010). 

The way in which it’s done so is a bit unusual, but the venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz has thrown its weight behind Twitter.  A report’s indicated Andreessen Horowitz spent something like $80 million to buy into the company.

Kara Swisher wrote this afternoon, "Andreessen Horowitz has invested more than $80 million in Twitter via purchasing stock in secondary markets."

The largest performers union in Canada is attempting to place a tax on iPods.

A quick search of the TechDirt database reveals that one organization or another has been attempting to achieve this for awhile now.

So this is nothing new, but still worth revisiting.

Earlier this morning, AOL reported its fourth quarter earnings results, and for shareholders, there’s both good news and bad news.  The good: the company beat most analysts’ expectations.  The bad: a column documenting year-over-year changes is still almost full of double-digit negative numbers.

Indeed, total revenue decreased 26 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, advertising revenue fell by the same amount, and free cash flow plunged by 38 percent, none of which is encouraging.

Chinese search company Baidu shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to making money.  Late yesterday, the company released its fourth quarter earnings report, and analysts’ expectations were surpassed in pretty much every respect.

To sort of cut to the chase: Baidu’s stock is up 6.69 percent in early morning trading, which shows the degree to which the company impressed investors.  Jumps like that don’t occur on an everyday basis.

Last week, Demand Media launched its initial public offering. Today, the company announced the closing of the IPO of 10,235,000 shares of common stock at $17.00 per share. From the release:

Amazon shareholders who were already on edge over the company’s disappointing earnings report and forecast now have one more thing to fret about.  A new SEC document indicates that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos cut his stake in the company by a significant amount at the end of last year.

Amazon has announced its financial results for its fourth quarter, including an increase in sales of 36% to $12.95 Billion.

Microsoft shareholders may not be impressed (the company’s stock has been a little droopy in after-hours trading), but the quarter ending December 31st seems to have gone well.  Microsoft reported its earnings this afternoon and beat analysts’ forecasts by significant margins.

Update: From the LinkedIn blog:

LinkedIn Corporation announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. A portion of the shares will be issued and sold by LinkedIn, and a portion will be sold by certain stockholders of LinkedIn.

For better or for worse, Twitter isn’t yet a public company, meaning it doesn’t have to deliver earnings reports the way Google and Yahoo have this quarter.  But an unofficial update on the company’s financial situation is available, as Sharepost has indicated that Twitter’s private valuation has hit $4 billion.

Demand Media shares are listing today in the New York Stock Exchange under the DMD symbol, as the company’s IPO of 8.9 million shares priced out at $17 a share (above estimates of $114 – $16). 

The IPO raised a reported $151.3 million valuing the company at just under $1.5 billion. 

The fourth quarter of 2010 could have gone much worse for Yahoo, judging from the earnings report the company released this afternoon.  Yahoo’s numbers were generally higher than what analysts expected, perhaps earning Carol Bartz a few points in unhappy shareholders’ eyes.  A low Q1 forecast threw a long shadow, however.

Following the did-he-jump-or-was-he-pushed debates that surfaced last week, there’s good news for Eric Schmidt: vacating the role of CEO of Google will be more lucrative than working a normal job for a lifetime.  It turns out Google intends to give Schmidt an awards package worth $100 million.

It may be quite a while before it’s possible say for sure whether Eric Schmidt chose a new position or was asked to step down, but in the meantime, no one needs to feel sorry for him.  The soon-to-be ex-CEO of Google has submitted paperwork to clear the way for a stock sale worth about $334 million.

Ahead of an IPO that may (or may not) take place this year, privately traded shares of LinkedIn are beginning to soar in value.  New rumors indicate that share prices make the professional networking company worth about $3 billion.

Google just dropped a bombshell: Eric Schmidt is out as CEO (as announced in the company’s earings report. We’ll be covering the company’s earnings call, which is sure to have more on this.