Google's valuation: is this the new reality?

That whooshing you heard was the cold chill running down the necks of traditional publishers, as Google's stock market value surpassed that of the Big 3 traditional media companies. A story in MediaDaily News says:

If there were any doubts that we were back into a new, digital media economy, they were laid to rest Monday when the price of Google's shares topped $600 for the first time, giving it a price to earnings multiple of 49.54, and a market capitalization greater than the three biggest traditional media companies - Time Warner, Walt Disney Co., and News Corp. - combined.

In fact, Google's value is 3.6 times that of all the publicly traded ad agencies on Wall Street.

The relative valuations of the new and traditional media companies are more than just symbolic. They signal investor confidence that allow companies to leverage their share value in stock-based acquisitions that can help companies grow even bigger and more dominant over time. And if Google's high price/earnings multiple seems bubblish, it wasn't apparent to experts on Wall Street.