Looks like the blogosphere has jumped on Fred Wilson’s back-of-the-envelope financial analysis of Google, in light of Google’s apparent troubling click-fortunes (honestly, did anyone think we’d be having this discussion 6 months ago?).
He has a good point though: Google’s spending a fraction of its revenues on the one pony that’s actually making it cash money. Personally, I’m looking at it from a glass half-full point of view. I *like* the idea of Google putting money into unfettered innovation that has a good chance of defining what the “internet” is, via software-as-service while owning the infrastructure behind it (don’t forget, Google has secretly been buying up dark fiber and building huge data centers, also largely in secret, to buttress this initiative).
Its obvious that the minds behind Google are looking well beyond its current incarnation, into a role that will not just compete, or lead, but to define and dominate new categories of technology that are nascent today. So let the analysts quibble over click fraud data and decreased earnings. As far as I’m concerned nothing’s changed with Google’s management, nor the direction that its been taking over the past year or so — and given that, I’ll be happy to continue betting on Google’s “one trick” pony for the forseeable future, because I know there are a few thoroughbreds in the stable that we haven’t even seen yet.
More:
- Henry Blodget has a more interesting Wallstreet-oriented discussion, using words like “EBIDTA”, and “run-rate free cash flow”, and “revenue”, and concludes that the reason why Google’s been spending like a drunken sailor on these capital expenditures is *because* its been a wash in cash.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:38 pm | Permalink
Don’t believe one optimistic word from any public figure about the economy or humanity in general. They are all part of the problem. Its like a game of Monopoly. In America, the richest 1% now hold 1/2 OF ALL UNITED STATES WEALTH. Unlike ‘lesser’ estimates, this includes all stocks, bonds, cash, and material assets held by America’s richest 1%.
Thanks for coming out, “The Next Great Depression”! Given that you’ve been copying and pasting the same long diatribes into various blogs, such as over here: http://blog.thehill.com/?comments_popup=5451 … I’ll ask everyone to refer to *that*. Cheers!
February 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm | Permalink
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm | Permalink
obviously u r not a programmer.
no serious programmer worth his salt will want to develop any serious applications on Google Apps Engine the way things are now.
Go google “Google Apps Engine sucks” — and you will understand.
Google has a habit of releasing applications when they are very Alpha, and Google releases them as Beta.
Google Apps Engine is not opensource. It is very proprietary, and at this moment, it has so many constraints that nobody but Google staff and hardcore google fans would want to use it.