Comments on: So Google Stumbles. Does It Matter?

By: raman

raman — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:36:19 +0000

Hi, Ur article is good,provides a negative look at a great company, but if u look at the acquistions theyhave done, and if u give time for them to mature, the stock will more tan double in the next 3 years and that is a lot for any investor, guys what do uthink?

By: James Hart

James Hart — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:12:02 +0000

Dear Readers,
Google is nothing more than a search engine company. THat’s it. The only real innovation and ideas that come out of their HQ all come from ideas from companies they have purchased. It’s great to see consolidation yea, but for what. GOOGLE IS A search engine. I haven’t used Google for over 5 years. For goodness sakes people have you ever tried http://www.metacrawler.com or http://www.Dogpile.com? They are great engines, and they don’t track everywhere you go on the Internet. I laugh at this because when the first tech bubble happened I always said that it was very CLEAR the investment groups have absolutely no idea where this technology is headed, what to do with theri pockets of money, and what companies to put it in. So, what is SEC response? Let’s just let Google to buy up every new idea that looks reasonable. This way we give all the power to a search engine…..?

Because of the Privacy concerns with Google, MySpace, YouTube, and FaceBook, I creat LifeConnect.com. It is the only true http://www.PrivateSocialNetworking.com website. Posting pictures and video of our kids on the web isn’t the best idea to protect our privacy. Companies want to invade your privacy by monitoring your habits, clicks, etc.. I’m not going to support any website or company that doesn’t 100% protect my personal data.
Sincerely,
James Hart, CEO
LifeConnect.com, Inc.
info@LifeConnect.com

By: » Google’s got game, casual game that is

» Google’s got game, casual game that is — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:54:40 +0000

[...] tumbles its stock is taking, one thing is clear: the search giant is dead serious about casual games. [...]

By: GigaOM Google’s got game, casual game that is «

GigaOM Google’s got game, casual game that is « — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:48:05 +0000

[...] by Wagner James Au Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 5:47 PM PT | No comments Whatever tumbles its stock is taking, one thing is clear: the search giant is dead serious about casual games. [...]

By: Toni D.

Toni D. — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:26:50 +0000

At a rate of almost an acquisition a day, Google is probably thinking that the earnings report is not even a hiccup.

http://www.bizorigin.com/2007/imageamerica-making-google-look-better/

By: Neil Anderson

Neil Anderson — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 18:10:37 +0000

Google's stock price still awes me.

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:32:57 +0000

I'm not a big fan of the stock market. It concerns me that we make such short-term investments in companies and that we so constantly look for ever-growing profits. Can't a company just pay dividends and stay profitable? I'd like to see more long-term investing, as a naive stock layperson. Google is doing great things, and yet our view of their financial outlook can crush a good company - a company that is not actually on shaky ground, but can be because of the opinion of its investors.

By: Drama 2.0

Drama 2.0 — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:01:00 +0000

Companies cannot grow at an exponential rate perpetually. It was, and is, inevitable that Google is going to see slowing growth eventually, especially since it's non-search initiatives have not exactly resulted in the type of success one might have expected given the company's dominance in the search market.

By: Kevin Kelleher

Kevin Kelleher — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:40:14 +0000

I'm a little puzzled that the use of salty language an appeals court recently declared okay, even on prime-time television, is ruffling some feathers.

However, Om has always kept a family-friendly tone around here, and I am willing to respect that in the future.

Kevin

By: Joe Blow

Joe Blow — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:01:14 +0000

Your vulgarities are unnecessary. No more you for me.

By: Trakin

Trakin — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:39:28 +0000

Not only the stock market scene for google is bad, but their search engine share is in danger. Bill Gates just made a satement on Indian T.V (NDTV) that Microsoft is going to monetize their searches – so normal user will share the revenue.
http://trak.in/Tags/Business/2007/07/20/earn-money-via-microsoft-search-engine-microsoft-to-beat-google-yahoo/

By: Sramana Mitra

Sramana Mitra — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:10:18 +0000

You have put your finger on Google’s weakest link: people and management. Much as they claim that they have great people, many of those are leaving already. Great people, over-hired for “underpay” and below their legitimate ranks don’t make happy employees. they get bored and leave. Google hired a bunch of startup CEOs at Director levels. Do you these people have it in their DNA to stick around? hah!

Here’s a very good article on Google’s hiring at the lower levels, which is also not rosy: http://sramanamitra.com/2007/04/23/googlemania/

Yes, they over-hired and screwed up their earnings this quarter.

What’s going to happen if the actual disease develops over the next few quarters?

By: Rupert Baines

Rupert Baines — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:25:23 +0000

Meanwhile, the next day, Google announced an investment in wireless

Google & femtocells

"Femtocell technology and access point pioneer Ubiquisys Ltd has secured $25 million in a round B funding that included Google and existing backers, bringing the total venture capital raised to date to $37 million."

UNSTRUNG has a long piece, discussing the implications and if this is a hint on Google's ambitions to be a wireless operator.

I'd love to know what their thinking is - got any ideas...?

Of course, Ubiquisys are customers of ours (almost everyone doing femtocells is a customer of ours!)

By: dave

dave — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:04:35 +0000

"eh tu?" - huh?

...and the bad news is still to come: serious key departures are in store for 2007 and '08, and this recent drop was like a kick in the pants for the 02 and 03 hires who were hanging on...

By: Steve Morsa

Steve Morsa — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:52:34 +0000

Great insight and analysis as usual, Kevin.

Maybe Google is "human" afterall...certainly good news for their competitors...including those able to snag some of their top talent using options as compensation honey...

ps Sorry to see you using the "f" word.

By: John's Blogging Mistakes

John's Blogging Mistakes — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:51:19 +0000

I wonder at all if this is impacted by all of the acquisitions that google has done this year? I read an article the other day that said google had more acquisitions in first quarter 2007 than in all of 2006. They are still performing, but maybe this is why that aren't still knocking it way out of the park?