Akwan Inforamation Technologies, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the company that operated the Brazilian search engine todobr.com.br, was acquired by Google last week. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, but Google said that it will establish a new research and development center for Latin America at Akwan’s head office. The search engine site todobr.com.br is now being redirected to Google’s Brazilian site google.com.br.

According to InternetWorldStats.com, Brazil currently has about 22.3 million Internet users. With Brazil’s population estimated to be around 181 million, the country has an Internet penetration rate of only 12.3%. However, Internet usage in Brazil grew at the impressive rate of 346% between 2000 and 2005, and Brazilians already represent 47.2% of all Internet users in South America. Google certainly has picked an exciting target market supporting its ongoing global expansion with this Brazilian acquisition.

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