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Google Claims They "Just Aren't That Big"

The New York Times is reporting that Google is making the case that they just aren't that big, especially from an anti-trust point of view. While they certainly corner the market in search, advertising, and online video, Dana Wagner, Google's "senior competition counsel," is working hard to convince the public that "competition is a click away." "None of the investigations take aim at Google's core advertising business. And unlike other technology giants in years past, Google has not been accused of anticompetitive tactics. But the investigations and carping from competitors and critics have Google fighting to dispel the notion that it has a lock on its market, even as it increases its share of search and online advertising. Eyes are rolling, especially in reaction to the idea that Google is a relatively small player in a giant market. 'They describe where they are in a market under a kind of a fairy-tale spun gloss that doesn't reflect their dominance of key sectors,' said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. 'Google search is an absolute must-have for every marketer in the world.'"

4 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. they're not that big by most measures by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Informative

    They might still be subject to antitrust issues if they're dominant in a particular market, but the statement that they "aren't that big" does seem objectively true, by most measures other than public fame.

    Some major tech companies by number of employees:

    • IBM: 400,000
    • Microsoft: 90,000
    • Google: 21,000

    And by revenue:

    • IBM: $104 billion
    • Microsoft: $60 billion
    • Google: $22 billion

    And by net income:

    • Microsoft: $18 billion
    • IBM: $12 billion
    • Google: $4 billion
  2. Re:That's Weird, Because Fiscally ... by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Informative

    Market Cap is a mixture of future expectations, growth, hype, and irrational exhuberance.

    GMGMQ, -- General Motors in a pink sheet -- has a market cap of 677 Million (10 times more than /. corporate parent sourceforge). Yet GM has earnings per share of -$60. Their true value is -$100 billion or so. In a few weeks, they'll finish their bankruptcy and that 677 million in market cap is guaranteed to drop to 0.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  3. Re:They're not big. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Did google buy out the competition so they were #1? No.

    Er.. curious how you got to 'no'

    Google did google video, it wasnt doing well, they bought Youtube and are now #1.

    Google did maps, it was okay but not #1, they bought Keyhole(now google earth) and advanced their tech to become #1

    They've also bought sketchup, grandcentral(google voice), and a few other smaller projects with varying success.

  4. Re:The alternative is much worse by bami · · Score: 5, Informative

    The IE rendering engine (especially in XP, no experience with Vista) is so tightly integrated it's not funny any more. Every application besides your browser will use IE, loads of applications just go "iexplore.exe http://www.awesomecorpsite.com/" instead of digging in the registry to get the correct browser (MSN Messenger used to open up Hotmail or Windows Live Mail with IE by default, you had to install third party hacks to get firefox to open it), and it's just everywhere.
    The fact that Explorer is just an extension of IE (XP still opens IE when you type a url into the adress bar of Explorer) speaks for itself.

    IE is everywhere in XP, less in Vista, but thanks to some EU regulations, no more in Windows 7. So until that day, yes, you are forced to use IE.