Seeking Alpha is running a great post by Faisal Laljee on 5 companies to watch as traditional and online media continue to merge.  Looking forward, Laljee has picked 5 company stocks to keep an eye on as likely benefiters of the transition.  And with the exception of one, I couldn't agree more.  Yahoo, News Corp, Time Warner Cable, and Disney are all great examples.

The one exception is Apple.  I agree that Apple commands a pretty domineering lead in several facets of the digital media landscape.  But I think that very lead is the same thing that will get them into trouble.  I will be shocked if anti-trust issues aren't raised against the iPod maker in the next couple of years.  Shocked.  Their unwillingness to work with other companies is going to get them into some hot water.  Coupled with the stock option mess (which I think will continue to dog the company's reputation), and I think we're looking at an Apple that won't be keeping up with the others in Laljee's list.

While his list focused on companies that would be likely to benefit from a merger of medias, I think there's a couple of important companies to keep an eye on.  Not for their dealings with media.  But because of the impact the Internet will have on them as it continues to expand into more areas of traditional business.

Wal-Mart and GE are two that I see benefiting from the "Internet-ilization" of corporate America.  Both have huge resources at their command.  And both are continuing to move greater percentages of their businesses online.  As they do, I think they'll find ways to efficiently manage more aspects of their companies.  By saving tons of money online, more will be going into their pocketbooks.

And then there's Google.  The Internet darling of Wall Street.  We should be watching Google, too.  But not because it's going to benefit from the Internet.  Sell it short.  It's long overdue for a correction.