Slashdot Mirror
Google Acquires Zagat
quantr writes "Google has acquired Zagat, one of the most well-known names in restaurant reviews. Zagat is best known for its small guidebooks (the dead-tree sort) that offer reviews and recommendations on restaurants around the world. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed."
Newly accepted submitter jkirch writes with a link to Google's announcement.
Sorry Yelp,
You had a good run but it appears that Google will be destroying you in the next year.
Yours Truly,
A future former yelp user
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.
"Google shuts down their recently acquired restaurant reviews service"
Well there you go folks, the claw of Google kills again.
Who will be next!
I watch some of those "failing restaurant" shows: Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant Impossible, etc.
MANY of those places have Zagat stickers in the windows, often with good ratings. And yet their businesses are dying and the TV chefs think the food is awful. Customers are scarce, so there must be a reason. Some of the problems with food quality and cleanliness might be overstated for shock value, but it never looks like the TV chef has to try very hard to find problems.
What's up with all of these Zagat-rated disaster restaurants? Does anyone on Slashdot know what's going on?
Google must still defeat Shen Long to stand a chance.
Bow-ties are cool.
Maybe one day the government will need to break up google also and then years later let it recombine!
You got the touch!
So, when this combines with my real Google ID I can't anonymously trash restaurants online anymore? So my food can be spat in when the manager recognizes me from my picture as "that guy that wrote the detailed review of how my restaurant sucks."
I don't think it will work out too well.
Glad I could help.
The acquisition makes sense, in that they obviously want ratings of restaurants (and other places) on Maps, and they've already changed tactics there once or twice. This'll pretty much take care of that problem.
I start to wonder, though, whether any acquisition by Google wouldn't "make sense". Their purchase of Motorola Mobility makes sense, too (though not to everyone). When you buy a consumer electronics company and a restaurant guide in consecutive months, what won't you buy? What acquisitions won't "make sense"?
Google buys Pacific Gas and Electric for $20B. Makes sense...
It took too long. The WSJ has a better one here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576558600549181370.html/ that's not behind a paywall. It also takes a more insightful view of the deal and who might be affected by it.
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
You heard it here first!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
People used to trash Microsoft relentlessly for constantly buying smaller companies in order to hurt competition.
Navteq, a map competitor of Google, (who provides the map tiles to Bing) uses Zagat. I'm sure they are not happy.
http://www.nn4d.com/site/global/learn/product_catalog/poi/zagats_travel/p_zagats_travel.jsp
When they sold out, started "reviewing" chain fast food restaurants, and started giving "Best Of" awards to places like KFC and Burger King.
I wonder how much the big fast food places paid off Zagat to get their stickers in almost every corporate owned fast food place out there?
Unless you are buying ads from Google you are not a user to them, you are a product to them.
YOU ARE THE PRODUCT!
Sheng Long, like Zagat, is just a hoax.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
If google now starts to throw local competence buy buying local companies into that scheme, then it gets scary.
Google Plus is still in a limited field trial, just as Facebook was for its first two and a half years.
Google is like the rich kid with too many toys.
How long before Google shuts down Zagat? This can be nothing but a drop in the bucket of their global strategy. Why bother?
As a stockholder, I'd be ticked about their endless wasteful acquisitions and distractions.
I suspect that what they're hoping to accomplish with this acquisition if what they were going for when they offered to buy Groupon. And that is local targeted advertising.
But I can't help but wonder, what's the point? You mean to tell me Google couldn't build a system internally and promote it under whatever brand they create?
Google has spent untold millions for three things: a website they'll almost certain rebuild, print publications they will now have to manage, and and established brand. It's a given that the site will eventually be tied back into the Google ecosystem. They didn't need Zagat to accomplish this. The print publication is probably the least profitable part of the business, but probably also the main thing that has sustained them thus far. On the other hand, it's what's established the brand and a lot of people are likely to be upset if they were to kill it.
So you're left with the brand. From everything I've seen Zagat enjoys a better reputation than a lot of competitors. It helps that they've kept themselves in the news with their ratings and other articles. But again, it ties back to the publication. I don't know if Google has the sophistication or experience or desire to evolve and innovate the print side of the business. If their fixation is targeted advertising I don't envision them investing much effort in getting anything else right. And the thing is that without that part of the business what's left to distinguish Zagat? You've basically killed the one thing that gave Zagat its value.
They might have gotten a deal on Zagat given that they were eager to sell. But considering the money Google must have spent why not invest internally building and marketing a similar platform? Is it more or do American corporations in particular have a fetish with buying and selling companies?
Google is in the same business as any other company offering "free" services: the business of selling advertisement space.
What business is Google in?
The advertising business. Or at least that's where they make all their money.
Indexing content or providing content?
Google's stated mission is to "organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful". So indexing existing content that's already available or finding information that isn't currently available and making it available could both plausibly fit.
I wish I were as sure of anything as some people are of everything
Well this explains McDonalds' and Burger King's new top ten rating in Zagat. Or do you think it might have to do with how much money they pay Google for Advertising?
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
And removing the / shows that it's behind a paywall.
rooooar
Actually, Zagat did a survey of people's fast food preferences. http://www.zagat.com/fastfood
The survey was from a whopping 6,000 people where the requirement for a large chain had to have at least 5,000 locations.
Good for KFC, bad for Zagat's credibility that most people read that to mean that Zagat rated their chicken the best. Rather is points out the crowd isn't always the smart thing to take your advice from.
If you took popularity into account Bud Light would be the "best" beer.
You know it is gonna happen.
What business is Google in? Indexing content or providing content?
They are in the advertising business which is supported, to a great extent, by search. Indexing content and providing content are two complementary approaches to delivering quality search. Recently, we've seen much more federated search on Google--in other words, combining results from different resources. For instance, a search for Apple will give you results from the web index mixed in with results from image search and product search.
An example where one of the elements is content that Google provides rather than indexes is Maps. Sure, Google could index web pages that have maps on them (and they do), but the user experience is far superior when the search engine can just provide the content you want without the need to perform extra clicks
The researchers and engineers are concerned primarily with making the user experience as satisfying as possible, and providing relevant content is part of that. If the users are happy, they'll keep coming back, thereby generating ad impressions and making money for Google.
I had over 70 reviews on there, mostly positive. This one place totally ripped me off. They censored my fair and honest negative review, then they deleted my account, and all 70 of my reviews. Many of the reviews were for undiscovered and locally owned gems that needed the exposure.
Fuck Yelp. Censoring Nazi Puss Bags.
Oh, for the record, the business was "San Elijo Dance and Music Academy". They STILL owe me $300, and the owners Ben and Laurie-Michelle are total charlatans, phonies, and liars. I really cannot say enough bad about the place.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Clearly they're looking for restaurants to find the best way to cook an apple.
Zagat's former CTO was quite a Microsoft enthusiast. Wonder what Google's going to do with that pile of stuff.