Oil spill search listings bought by BP as stock price plunges

Google, Bing and Yahoo are profiting from the BP oil spill as the besieged business fights to polish its oil stained image. Enter "oil spill, or "oil spill claims" as a search query and BP seems as the number one listing. Search engine companies are collecting oil wealth when BP's stock plunge has investors questioning the future of a business flush with cash. BP is also taking heat from U.S. politicians who are criticizing the business for paying huge stock dividends when companies displaced by the disaster wait for damage claims. Meanwhile, the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010 added up to as much as 125 million gallons and counting on day 52 of the disaster.

Article Source: BP buys top oil spill search listings as BP stock price plummets

Will money buy love for BP?

BP is aggressively going after web users looking for a BP oil spill update. BP, fighting off bad press and political pressure, is trying to control information about the disaster by paying search engine companies to show up at the top of the list for queries such as "oil spill and "oil spill claims". The store-bought links lead to a BP site featuring corporate versions of the oil spill response with press releases, photos and video. The oil spill live feed, and its view of the ruptured well overwhelming within the oil spill cap, is conspicuously missing.

BP stock price plummets

So far BP’s oil spill ploy with the search engine companies hasn’t helped its stock price. Political pressure from the U.S. government on BP for its failure to plan for the gulf oil spill catastrophe drove BP stock to its lowest point in seven years in London trading. BP stock is widely held by British pension funds and investors you will find angered over the insistence of U.S. lawmakers that BP suspend dividends until the oil spill is cleaned up. The Associated Press quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying that BP, responsible under the law for the spill's economic damage, should withhold dividends until the crisis is resolved.

Additional information at these websites

CNNMoney.com

usatoday.com

google.com/hostednews/ap/article