Holy schnikes! Not exactly sure what I think of this, as reported in Silicon Valley Business Journal:
Unnamed sources said that search engine titan Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) of Mountain View is the company in question and that its Phoenix-area plans will likely include operations related to online auctions and expanded Internet and technology services.
Google is looking to expand beyond its search engine core and compete with eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) subsidiary America Online and other Internet companies in online auctions, services and consumer sales. Google is also partnering with Sun Microsystems (NYSE:SUNW) to compete with Microsoft in the areas of software and operating systems.
I’m just consistenly amazed at how Google doesn’t give a damn about existing players and perceived sacred cows in the name of market dominance.
If they’re willing to steamroll eBay, Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL, you think they’ll think twice about squashing Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs or any other job search player?
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 12th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Well, I’m personally amused by how every era seems to require a “superman” company that can and will do anything. GM, GE, Virgin, Microsoft, and AOL have all held this role at one time and Google just happens to be the current title holder.
Second, let’s follow the money:
Google market cap: $83 billion
eBay Market Cap: $54 billion
Yahoo market cap: $48 billion
Monster market cap: $3.4 billion
With numbers like that, why crush when you could simply acquire? The truth is that the online job ad space is not nearly as large a prize as it looks, especially if we consdier that Monster is the biggest fish in the pond.
October 13th, 2005 at 7:20 am
You’ve got to kind of wonder what Google could do to the job board market. Either, they will keep them alive as job seekers primarily get linked onto job boards as it is job boards that control adwords and it it their content that fills the natural job search results. Or, they get employers jobs direct from their careersites in the listings. Not a new topic but why would they kill the job board revenue stream – yet! It in theory is only a matter of time but not sure how much…..
October 13th, 2005 at 9:14 pm
Sergey sez: Don’t be Gevil
http://www.flickr.com/photos/500hats/50282408/
October 14th, 2005 at 5:55 am
Google has to be careful not to try to be all things to all people!
Imagine if Tiger Woods thought he could also play Baseball (Like Michael Jordan tried), He would probably start to drop off the rankings in Golf.
But I do give Google points for the imagination to re-invest their hard earned dollars back into the industry and give the Moguls a run for their money.
October 14th, 2005 at 9:08 am
Great post Joel and CK, your numbers are dead on a point that makes you scratch your head as to all the hooting and hollaring that goes on in our little world.
Geoff……apples/oranges. Tiger is great at driving, putting, chipping…….all related to the Golf game.
Search……..for info, jobs, shopping are all in the same family and the integration possibilities of the Google BRAND and TRAFFIC are endless. They have a captive audience that is enjoying their continued expansion……
FROOGLE……..love it, use it to comparison shop and buy every week for something. It kills Ebay. Easy links to real vendors/retailers and less transactional.
News…..love it, use it twice daily to get news updates.
General search……….use it all day.
-OS
October 14th, 2005 at 11:01 am
Someone at Google is in Sergey’s and Larry’s ears about portfolio diversification and health – OS is right on target. With a market cap of $83B, Google needs to “diversify” or else potentially fall prey to the BizGods who decimated highly capitalized companies of yesteryear (uh, like 5-10 years ago!).
As we say in recruiting, you’re either a customer or a source… but at what cost?