I just noticed a trend. Google is a super big company and is buying everything in sight. I actually enjoy using google as my primary search engine. I am just amazed at how much it is buying. It is becoming like a super monopoly. I hope it is a good thing. I think over time we will be better able to judge its purchases and its effects on its users.
Today they came out with their earnings which was absolutely amazing. They made over a billion dollars in 3 months. Google is the most successful internet company.
Overcoming a traditionally slow season for Web surfing, Google said Thursday that it earned $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share, for the three months ended in September. That was a 46 percent improvement from net income of $733.4 million, or $2.36 per share, at the same time last year.
When I was surfing the news, I found out Google just bought out another company called Jaiku. I know old news, that was so last week. But it seems like they just bought another company. Remember that game Monopoly where you try to buy everything and charge rent for it. The goal is to try to bankrupt everyone and own everything to win the game. Anyways, that’s what this reminds me of.
Even though google is a public stock and has investors, it really is controlled by the 2 founders because it never sold more than 50% stake of the company stock. A few years back, microsoft was accused of having a monopoly because it sold windows to vendors with a bunch of applications that automatically installed together. You know internet explorer, word, excel, outlook, and a bunch of stuff.
I googled to find out what google owned. This is what I know they have acquired in the past:
In August 2006, it acquired Neven Vision, an online photo-search company. On October 10, 2006, it acquired the online video company, YouTube. In October 2006, it also acquired JotSpot. JotSpot applications are delivered as Web-based services. In March 2007, the Company acquired Adscape Media Inc., a company that makes technology to deliver advertising over the Internet for placement within videogames.
July 09, 2007
Google to Acquire Postini*
April 13, 2007
Google to Acquire DoubleClick*
I thinks there was one time when another juggernaut company didn’t like what google was doing. Ebay used google to buy ads to generate traffic for them. Google created a similar service called google checkout that competed with Ebay’s paypal service. Ebay pulled all its ad one day and google backed down. Techcrunch gives a good quick summary of this event earlier this year “Ebay stares down Google and wins”.
Another article from the Times Online gives a more detailed story:
eBay’s decision to pull its advertising with Google came after it learnt of the search giant’s plan to gatecrash its user conference in Boston this week to promote CheckOut, a rival to eBay’s PayPal payment service.
Google later cancelled the party following eBay’s advertising moratorium.
These aggressive sales tactics have helped to cultivate the image of Google as a corporate bully with big brother tendencies.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Google one day bought out eBay. I really hope they believe in their informal motto: “Don’t be evil”. I am considering buying some google stock. Do you think $640 a share is cheap or expensive??
I found another article from the NY Times about google in China called:
Google’s China Problem (and China’s Google Problem) which deals with censorship. The article is long but a great read and fascinating to see how a company as big as google with all the money it is making that it seemed willing to compromise its own set of company core values and possibly integrity just to get every dollar on the virtual table.
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I think it really solidifies the saying - Everything has its price. As long as there’s money in it, -and- they can get away at the same time, Google will attack the opportunity. I have yet to see any monopoly being good overall for the rest of the world as the best interests would always lie with the monopoly. I wouldn’t be surprised one day if you even need Google’s permission to start up a hosting company.
Great informative post, Chessnoid!
*Oh there’s that spider again!*
YC’s last blog post..Paid Links: To Be Or Not To Be
Hi YC,
Thanks for the comment. I found it interesting learning about all these things about google. I really am considering buying stock in the company. I just don’t know it it is overvalued right now. Most of its value comes from ad revenue, which I think is hard to measure future trends. The numbers point up right now, but I almost feel it is at the peak. I remember Qualcomm was a stock that had shot up to $1000 in a short period of time before it fell. Also, the whole censorship doesn’t sit well with me either. Guess time will tell.
My mom bought Google stock a few years ago and sold it last year. Boy was she sorry. Just based on what google has been doing lately with dropping PR’s on people I would say they are already on the road to evil. Companies get that big and then try to dictate everything. I worry that they will become a bad thing for the internet with time.
Google is a monopoly and as far as I know history of human kind, monopolies were dictatorships and never beneficial to humans, just good for the few that own the monopoly.
Having shares at a such monster won`t give you any advantage in long terms, anytime it will be required you`ll be forced to sell and shares will go back in “proper” hands.
Google started to be evil since some time now and on hidden levels they are connected to “programs” meant to rule the world.
Valentin’s last blog post..the real way to make big money online gurus keep it secret
Hi OSoNY,
Thanks for commenting. Sounds like your mom sold it when she made a respectable profit. Google now is just astronomical in price. Even with a down day in the market it shot up.
Let’s hope they stay nice to us bloggers.
Cheers!
Hi Valentin,
Thanks for the comment. Interesting thoughts on the whole monopoly google is building. I am not sure what programs you refer to that will help them rule the world. I would be interested in reading it.
Cheers!
“Programs”, not programs.
Maybe more spropriate would I have use plans ..
For better understanding (yet not explained in green words, but to make brain doubts :-P), come to my page (any), right side bar, miscelaneous area, first link - zeitgeist. Have patience if first 2 parts are not suitable, but pay close attention to third part.
Valentin’s last blog post..the real way to make big money online gurus keep it secret
Hi Valentin,
I will check it out. Thanks.
Cheers!
It seems like its an all out war. With Yahoo buying up companies as well, eg. Mybloglog. How do they compare to Google in profit making.
Peter McCartney’s last blog post..Seeking the Holy Grail
Hi Peter,
Yahoo’s profit is awesome but not at google level. Bloomberg says:
Net income fell 4.6 percent to $151.3 million, or 11 cents a share, from $158.5 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier, Yahoo said today in a statement. Sales, excluding revenue passed on to partner sites, climbed to $1.28 billion.
Thank you for the follow up and going to all that hard work to find out for me. Much appreciated!
Peter McCartney’s last blog post..Seeking the Holy Grail
Hi Peter,
It was no problem. I enjoy looking up this kind of stuff. I actually owned stock in Yahoo too until I sold it recently.
Cheers!
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