Even Google is Focusing on Costs. You have to focuse too.
Google Inc., owner of the most popular Internet search engine, is adding fewer employees and focusing on controlling expenses amid the global economic slump, Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said.
“We have slowed our hiring, but we’re still hiring,” Schmidt said in an interview that will be aired on Bloomberg Television at 9 p.m. New York time. “We’re still doing the same kinds of exciting and crazy things that Google always does.”
Google is grappling with an economic slowdown that’s curbing growth in the online advertising market, while competition intensifies with Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for customers’ budgets. Schmidt said that while the overall ad market may be shrinking, Google benefits from its ability to target specific users. The company’s business hasn’t changed significantly in the past two weeks, he said.
Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. will start a high-profile advertising partnership by early October, even if federal regulators haven’t yet approved the deal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Thursday.
Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. will start a high-profile advertising partnership by early October, even if federal regulators haven’t yet approved the deal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Thursday.
“We are going to move forward with it,” Schmidt said in an interview on Bloomberg television after being asked whether the companies would wait for the Justice Department to complete its review.
Schmidt’s comments indicate that the deal, outlined in June, is full steam ahead. Under the agreement, Google will supply Yahoo with online advertisements that are expected to generate an additional $800 million in annual revenue for Yahoo and help prop up its slumping finances.
To deflect criticism about the No. 1 and No. 2 search engines teaming up, the companies said they would give the Justice Department 3 and a half months to review the deal, although they weren’t required to do so because it does not involve an acquisition. Schmidt’s comments indicate that they won’t wait any longer to implement the partnership.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the status of its Google-Yahoo review.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt sat down unexpectedly Thursday for 75 minutes with a dozen journalists to give their impressions on the state of the technology community and Google’s place in it.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt sat down unexpectedly Thursday for 75 minutes with a dozen journalists to give their impressions on the state of the technology community and Google’s place in it.
In a relaxed discussion, the trio fielded questions about Yahoo, Microsoft and their relationships to Google. The discussion was unusual because Allen & Company, which organizes and runs the Sun Valley Media Conference in this remote corner of Idaho, allows for journalists to ask occasional questions. But a 75-minute press conference is very much the oddity. Moreover, most of the moguls gathered here have studiously avoided answering anything substantive about their dealmaking plans when accosted by journos.
The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone, as well as the Chinese market and how they’re treated there — and even Google’s inhouse educational programs and the salaries and potential of teachers.
But first they had a few words about Bill Gates’ company.
“Microsoft has a long history of having deals that look quite good and end up looking not so good when you look at the fine print,” Schmidt said of Microsoft’s dealings with and to acquire Yahoo.
“We took the position that the world is better off with an independent Yahoo!”
Photo: Associated Press / Noah Berger/ Found at Wired.com
Sergey Brin Cares About The Children
Google CEO Eric Schmidth and cofounder Larry Page sat down with reporters for over an hour during an impromptu press conference while playing Bilderbergers at Allen & Co.’s exclusive Sun Valley getaway yesterday. There was talk of Google’s Android cell-phone operating system; of China; of the search-ads deal with Yahoo.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is quickly establishing itself as one of the most press-friendly attendees at Sun Valley’s annual gathering of high-powered media and technology types.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is quickly establishing itself as one of the most press-friendly attendees at Sun Valley’s annual gathering of high-powered media and technology types. Last year, he spent a solid hour answering reporters’ questions in a late-night rap session.
On Thursday, Mr. Schmidt, along with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, again fielded questions from the media, commenting on, among other things, Microsoft’s attempt to buy Yahoo as well as Google’s deal to buy YouTube.
On the Yahoo front, Mr. Schmidt was emphatic that he thought Yahoo did the right thing in rejecting Microsoft’s bid.
“There is no question in our view that an independent Yahoo is better,” he said. A stand-alone Yahoo “will provide more competition in search and other advertising markets, in particular in display advertising.”
Yahoo Rejects Microsoft, Icahn Bid to Split Company (Update1)
July 13 (Bloomberg) — Yahoo! Inc. rejected a proposal from Microsoft Corp. and billionaire investor Carl Icahn that would have broken up the Internet company, saying they were trying to “coerce” officials into selling assets.
Under the plan, Yahoo’s current board and top management would be replaced. Microsoft would buy Yahoo’s search business and leave Icahn with the rest of the Sunnyvale, California-based company, an “odd and opportunistic alliance” that doesn’t have the best interests of shareholders in mind, Yahoo said.
“Carl Icahn and Microsoft presented us with a `take it or leave it’ proposal,” Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement. “It is ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal. We will not be bludgeoned into a transaction that is not in the best interests of our stockholders.”
The decision steps up pressure on Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang to prove his alternative deal, a partnership with Google Inc., can deliver better returns. Icahn has proposed a set of directors and is challenging Yang for control of the board at an Aug. 1 meeting.
Yahoo, owner of the No. 2 Web search engine after Google, said it was given 24 hours to weigh the latest proposal, made Friday evening. Some of the ideas, including spinning off the Asian investment assets and returning cash to shareholders, are items the board is already considering.
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