>> susie: a new page for google is a familiar one. co-founder larry page moves into the c.e.o. role at the web search giant. >> this is the case where the grownups were in charge, and now, the kids-- in this case, the founders-- are coming back. and i think they are going to add just a level of understanding of the business that the grownups didn't quite have. >> tom: the change at the top comes as google's growth strategy pays off, with another quarter of exceptional earnings. you're watching "nightly business report" for thursday, january 20. this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> susie: good evening, everyone. a big-- and surprising-- top management change at google tonight. eric schmidt is out as c.e.o., and google co-founder larry page takes over the top job, as of april 4. tom, schmidt will stay on at the company as executive chairman, and as he said on twitter, "day- to-day adult supervision no longer needed." >> tom: susie, as you remember, when schmidt was brought in ten

years ago, he said the young co- founders-- page and sergey brin- - needed "adult supervision." they've certainly grown up, given the spectacular earnings google reported after the bell this afternoon. the internet giant earned $8.75 per share, 66 cents higher than estimates. revenues also came in better than expected, jumping almost 30% percent to $6.4 billion. google stock was up over 2.5% in after-hours trading. >> susie: so, what do all these changes mean for google? darren gersh reports. >> reporter: google is breaking up the triumvirate. for a decade, founders larry page, sergey brin and c.e.o. eric schmidt have made key decisions together. now, schmidt says he'll be focused outside the company on deals, partnerships, and the increasingly tricky relationships with governments. schmidt says larry page will take on the c.e.o. job a week after he turns 38. >> i want to say very clearly, i believe larry is ready. he's been working on this area

for a long time. his ideas are very interesting and clever. it's time for him to have a shot at running this, and i'm sure he'll do a fantastic job. >> reporter: larry page used today's announcement to push back a bit on critics who argue the hyper-growth days of internet search are over. >> i cannot be more excited about moving us forward, and we're really at the beginning. >> reporter: the announcement took investors by surprise, but tech analyst gene munster said page will bring new energy to the c.e.o. role, even though managing a company with 25,000 employees will be a challenge. >> he's not an operational person. larry's... he's a scientist, he's an engineer, he's someone who really understands the technology behind this. >> reporter: increasingly, that technology is going to social networks, and so are consumers, who are getting more of their information from sites like facebook. google is growing now, but analysts say page's challenge as c.e.o. is clear. >> now, the key question is will larry page be able to ignite

their social and mobile offerings to continue to accelerate their growth. >> reporter: s&p analyst scott kessler says that means google will have to change the google experience, from a transaction, where users search and leave, to one that is more engaging. >> so we think that, more and more, google needs to figure out ways to not only attract people to their properties, but also to keep people there. >> reporter: page will soon be making the big calls at google, but in some ways, eric schmidt will have the more difficult challenge. he will be dealing with government regulators in the u.s. and around the world, and many are concerned about google's market power. some analysts feel that is a bigger threat to google than competitors like apple and microsoft. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> tom: another tech shakeup tonight, this one on the hewlett-packard board of directors. four board members that played key roles in the ouster of former c.e.o. mark hurd stepped down today. h-p will replace them with some tech heavy weights.

among those joining the lineup: former lucent alcatel c.e.o. patricia russo, and former ebay chief meg whitman. here are the stories in tonight's "n.b.r. newswheel." stocks were under pressure today, but some better than expected housing news helped limit the damage. the dow fell two points, the nasdaq lost 21, and the s&p 500 was off a point. trading volume-- about the same as yesterday on both the big board and the nasdaq. home re-sales wrapped up the year with a bang-- december sales jumped over 12%. but overall, 2010 marked the worst year for existing home sales since 1997, with just under five million units changing hands. verizon has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal communications commission's new rules on internet access. those net neutrality regulations require providers to treat all content equally on their networks. verizon says the fcc doesn't have the authority to create those rules.

>> susie: still ahead, a campaign to get americans to go bananas for healthy foods. we talk with dole food c.e.o. david delorenzo about that, and the rising cost of fruits and veggies. >> tom: china's president hu jintao met with u.s. lawmakers today, talking currency, trade and human rights. the meetings came while china reported its economy picked up more steam at the end of last year, and more inflation. china's economy grew by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. but inflation also jumped, up 4.6% in december compared to a year earlier. the promise of china has attracted lots of attention from u.s. investors. how best to invest in the dragon economy? don straszheim is senior managing director with the i.s.i. group. jeff papp is a senior analyst at oberweis asset management. jeff papp with us. welcome both to nbr. you want to start with you, does china carry more inherent risk for u.s. investors than other foreign markets?

>> tom, right now china's economy is a little too hot. inflation is risinging too much, and they're raising interest rates, not very good in the short run for equities am but longer term it's goinging to remain the fastest growing economy in the world for i i think many years to come. and it inherently is no more risky than investinging in even the western developed markets. >> tom: jeff, you help run the oberweis china opportunities mutual fund which has been trying to take advantage of china. a mix of chinese stocks that raid in the u.s. and hong kong. do you agree with don's assessment and how come you don't trade anything directly in china? >> yeah, we totally agree with what don has to say. if you look at what is driving that growth right now it retail sales up almost 19% during q-4 which is exceptionally strong. we are looking for companies that will drive china growth in the next ten years, services companies that are small, midsized companies that have unique products and services that can play on the rising boom of the middle class in china.

>> tom: but you're trading stocks based in china that trade in the u.s. and hong kong. where why not chinese stocks that trade in china? >> that's a great question. it comes down to two real key answers. that's transparency both in terms of management and transparency in terms of what they actually are telling you that they are reporting. we found it to be that hong kong listed companies and companies listed here in the u.s. have much better transparency in terms of management and we get a much better understanding and have much more comfort with what they are reporting and that we can take comfort that that is actually what they are showing in terms of pnl. >> tom: profit and loss there i would imagine are you not going to isolate transparency only to chinese traded stocks. you have a point of caution and consideration for u.s. invests. the point of caution you want to bring up is be cautious of chinese reverse merger stocks, essentially these are companies that buy a shell company that is already established and listed on the stock exchange. why the caution? >> tom, these are simply dangerous companies because becoming listed is a lower

hurdle to get over than doing a traditional ipo. and if you look at the performance over the last five years, these reverse merger companies have dramatically underperformed the ipo company. that is why you want to stay with with the ipos. >> paul: that's your caution. your consideration is don't shy away from state-owned enterprises. these are those massive companies that are still a big ownership from the government from the beijing government yet trade on u.s. stock exchanges. so what the opportunity? >> western investors have this visceral reaction, stay away from these big bureaucratic dinosaurs. which they don't. but in fact the state can grant these companies real monopoly power. they can beat up on their foreign competition and if you want exposure to china broadly, it's still a great way to get that exposure. >> tom: we do have one investment idea since we have a professional stockpicker with jeff papp along with us. your fund likes fina.com an on-line and mobile-media

company in china. has had a huge run-up from the $30 rang to $80, more than doubled over the past six months. where is the growth? >> yeah, just getting back to don's point, this was a traditional ipo about 7 or 8 years ago, right now they are seeing a tremendous boom from a twitter-like service called wibow that has nearly a hundred million users in less than one year's time period. we think there is tremendous opportunity for them to monetize this asset in the next couple of years. right now we are seeing ridiculous valuations on facebook, twitter and groupon, so we think there is value still to be attracted in the twitter like service. >> tom: going on-line overseas there. any disclosures with that company? >> well w i do own the fund and the fund does own cina.com. >> paul: . >> tom: we appreciate you exploring the opportunities and pitfalls. our guest tonight don straszheim and jeff papp with oberweis magazine.

-- management. >> tom: worries about inflation in china were balanced against the strong housing and employment data here in the states, with the major indices ending with small losses. let's get to tonight's "market focus." the small losses for the broad market mask the selling in material stocks, those most closely tied to commodities. with china's inflation continuing to heat up, it brings up the possibility of china doing more to slow its economy,

and its appetite for commodities. let's roll out caterpillar. it was the biggest loser among dow industrial components, shedding 2%. cat stock has been moving up nicely over the past year as global demand for food and metals has helped its farm and mining equipment business. speaking of mining, freeport mcmoran led the losers among the materials sector. the stock is now down 9% from this high. today, selling came despite solid fourth quarter earnings, easily beating street estimates. profits were up 60% from a year ago, thanks to much stronger copper and gold prices. but not today-- copper was among the commodities taking a hit today.

copper futures fell almost 2%. but look at this rally, and this is just the past 180 sessions. at the beginning of this year, copper was at an all-time high. it wasn't just copper. precious metals silver and gold each saw some profit-taking, silver down more than 4%. and oil prices fell below $90 per barrel for the first time in two weeks. morgan stanley is the second to last major bank to report earnings. bank of america is the last, and its numbers are due tomorrow morning. morgan stanley's shift in focus from trading to clients appears to be paying off. including gains from selling an investment in china, the firm easily beat estimates. revenue was up across investment banking, asset management and wealth services. similar to its competitors, morgan stanley's fixed income business held back the profit gains. the stock beat back the weak tone of the market to end with better than a 4% gain, and volume almost tripled. this is morgan's highest close since last may. cloud computing stocks came back to earth after computer network firm f-5 failed to impress the

market with quarterly report. after more than doubling over the past year, the stock lost a fifth of its value, even though earnings surged 90%. a couple of corporate dealings: retailer dillards will form a real estate investment trust. shares jumped 12% to a 13-year high. and fast food company wendy's may sell its arby's brand, as it looks to jump-start international growth. shares popped 7%. and that's tonight's "market focus."

>> tom: the world's biggest retailer plans to offer healthier food options. walmart wants to cut fat, salt and sugar in the food sold under its "great value" label. walmart also vowed to slash prices on fresh fruits and vegetables. the retailer's plan got a big endorsement from the first lady. michelle obama says walmart's move to healthier food can change how americans eat. >> we are seeing a fundamental shift in our national conversation about how we make and sell food. that's something that wasn't happening just a year ago. >> tom: combating child obesity is one of obama's priorities. walmart was inspired by her efforts, and says the changes will be in place in the next five years. >> susie: good nutrition was also a hot topic here at the new york stock exchange. dole food was serving up cups of pineapple and mixed fruit to traders. the giant fresh produce company is campaigning to combat obesity

in the u.s., and promote healthy eating in public schools. after the company's c.e.o. david delorenzo rang the opening bell, i asked him about the impact high food prices are having on getting americans to eat healthy fruits and vegetables. >> i think that if people make a concerted effort to look at individual pricing, you can eat very economically with fresh fruits and vegetables. bananas, for example, is the cheapest product in the supermarket, it's a great bargain, really healthy for you. and a great snack item as opposed to junk food. so i think that people can eat healthy. and it doesn't have to really hurt their pocketbook that much. >> susie: prices for fresh fruits and vegetables have been rising. do you see that trend continuing for this year? >> well, there could be some price inflation this year. we've had strange weather a lot of rain' weather on the west coast a lot of cold weather in the crops. the prices tend to follow the weather patterns. on the other hand you have other crops like bananas that have been great bargains and continue to be great bargains, so i think

it will be a mixed bag depending which crop and which area. >> susie: as food prices go up, are you concerned that consumers will move away from the dole brand and go after cheaper private labels? >> well, you're always concerned about the consumer moving away but i think that the quality that we have, the products we have. we just come out with this new 100% juice product that we where here promoting today. nobody else has this. and i think nutrition is really first and foremost on everybody's mind today. and quality. so i think we're in a very good position to be leaders in nutrition and keep pushing this trend forward. >> susie: how is your business doing in this economy. >> it is doing well with. we expect it to have an uptick in the united states and internationally. and we seeing some improvement this year. and the rollout so far that we somewhere had, very good acceptance. so i think that we're going to see an uptick in business and an uptick in the economy. >> susie: we're hearing concerns about global food shortages as demand for food pick newspaper developing

countries like china, india. you can meet that demand? >> absolutely, we'll meet the demand. we're very poised for expansion, when demand, when demand is there. so there is land in the world. we're in almost every country of the world. we're always looking for new territory. so there is a possibility, certainly in the medium term, i don't think there is going to be any problems. >> susie: let's talk about dole stock. it is up again today and it has been climbing over the past couple of weeks what is going to drive the stock from here. >> i think the real catalyst from the move up will be after these products are out in the market and we've got past the cost of launching them. we'll see a nice bump. and as i say, i think that the banana business and the pineapple business our tropical businesses are an uptick they should be doing very well. >> susie: david, thank you so much. pleasure talking to with you. >> always a pleasure, thank you very much. >> tom: here's what we're watching for tomorrow: quarterly results from bank of america and general electric.

our friday "market monitor" is hank smith, chief investment officer at haverford investments. tomorrow, jeff kaffee was the first owner to take delivery of the new chevy volt. find out what he thinks after a month behind the wheel. >> susie: warren buffett is retiring from the board of "the washington post" company after 37 years. his company, berkshire hathaway, is the "post's" largest shareholder. buffett didn't give a specific reason for stepping down, but he'll remain a director at the publishing company until the end of his term in may. he also says he'll continue to consult for the management. >> tom: in about a year, investors will have a better handle on the quality of loans bundled and sold as asset-backed securities. federal regulators today okayed new rules on that. firms selling those securities will have to review the loans making them up, then report the findings to the public. the rules are part of the financial overhaul law passed last summer. they take effect next january 1. euu?

>> susie: in our "planet forward" segment tonight, we head to new york city. we look at how one of the world's most recognizable

buildings is going green. the empire state building has been a landmark for almost 80 years. but when it comes to office space, it has lots of competition in newer, more energy efficient buildings. planet forward's frank sesno walks us through the building's big makeover, and the energy cost savings it achieved. >> reporter: what's old is new again: in this case, possibly the most iconic structure in the world, where innovation meets energy efficiency. and the new york state of mind? devin greene and kristina sgueglia-- students at the george washington university-- heard the empire state building was getting new windows, so they hit the streets. just how many windows were there? >> okay, we have about 110 floors. >> 11,000. >> 650. >> 110 times. >> 5,550... >> 6,354. >> it's got 6,514 windows, some

26,000 panes of glass. >> that can't be right. >> we took the glass out. we pulled it all apart. we vigorously cleaned it. and we did something else. we re-used all the glass in the building. we took those dual-paned windows and made them r-8. the "r" value is a technical measurement of the resistance to heat flow. so the higher the number, the better. higher "r" value windows are built in a unique way. they have multiple chambers separated by suspended film. that clear film goes in... it goes in with a special set of spacers and other sealants. then, we fill that with gas. that further improves the "r" value to get all the way to 400% improvement. >> reporter: surace says the windows can save $410,000 a year in energy costs. >> commercial buildings are about 18% of our total energy use, so it's a pretty significant slice. the median life span of a commercial building in the united states is something like 70 years. we have to look at things like

retrofitting, because we already have a lot of our commercial buildings and we want to keep using them. >> retrofitting for energy efficiency is not new. doing it on a level that the empire state building did in a 1931 building is rare. >> reporter: surace's work was part of a $550 million renovation, all of it undertaken because it promises to pay for itself in only three years. saving green dollars by reducing energy consumption is appealing. but will this type of expensive retrofitting make financial sense for everyone? is it even possible? >> there are something like 4.8 million commercial buildings in the united states, and as of 2007, i think only 4,000 of them meet the energy star requirements. all buildings together-- residential and commercial-- actually produce more greenhouse gases in the u.s. than vehicles do. >> reporter: this high profile project has gotten a lot of press, and the students video drew reaction on planet forward. "green for greens sake only

appeals to those who are already green," writes greg. "however, to be truly successful, you need to appeal to the masses, not just the choir." surace says the tenants are happier, vacancies are getting filled, everyone pays less for energy, and we are saving the planet. if a 1931 building can do this, so can everyone. if you have experience or advice in retrofitting and making it pay, lots of folks would like to hear more. at planetforward.org. >> susie: frank sesno joins us now. fascinating info on the empire state building. if the empire state building can do this, can this also be done at other buildings, and most other buildings across the united states? >> well, most other buildings need it because a lot of them in old, in new york alone something like more than 40% of the office space there was built before the end of world war ii and buildings in new york represent 80% of the energy used there. the total renovation project, by the way, at the empire state building is going to save more than $4 million a

year. so there is a lot of savings to be had. >> susie: now you said you were telling me that when most people think about saving on energy, they think of cars and ways that you can have fuel economy. you are saying that we need to think more about buildings. >> absolutely. buildings represent something like 80%, as i said in new york, of the energy used across the country. the number is overwhelming. and there are so many places in a building to save energy, in the windows, the insulation, in the heating and the cooling. so if there is an older structure there is also number question there is substantial energy savings can be achieved. >> susie: i know that planet forward is working on more ideas to boost energy efficiency. how can our viewers participate? >> well, come to planet forward. planet forward.org. we're looking for your ideas. they made end up here on nightly business report, they might end up on a special on pbs around earth day this year. we're looking for the best ideas and bring them to us. >> susie: we've got to run. see you next month, talking

to planet forward frank ses mo -- sesno. >> tom: that's "nightly business report" for thursday, january 20. i'm tom hudson. good night, everyone, and good night to you, too, susie. >> susie: good night, tom. i'm susie gharib. good night, everyone. we hope to see all of you again tomorrow night. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> be more.