Poor Little Rich Google
March 6, 2007 by gonzo.pete
Filed under Communication, Computing, Gadgets, Internet
If Google’s balance sheets are to be believed it would appear the company doesn’t know what to do with the $11.2 billion in cash and securities it has accumulated (up around 40 percent from the end of 2005 when it held $8.03 billion).
Google is accumulating mounds of cash from operations, but Chief Executive Eric Schmidt appeared to rule out seeking big mergers or making other dramatic changes in how the company uses it.
Speaking to investors at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, Schmidt was asked by analyst Mary Meeker whether Google would consider changing course on how it uses cash.
“It is highly unlikely,” Schmidt said. “One of the problems in high-tech industries is that successful companies tend to generate cash pretty liberally (but) they don’t have good places to put it.”
He added that, while Google itself is generating a mounting pile of cash, “it is not obvious to me where it would go.”
Google invests heavily in data centers and network capacity that it uses to expand the range and depth of its Web services
Google’s blockbuster $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube last year was a stock transaction.
So what should Google spend its vast fortune on? Ideas welcome below.
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Maybe they could expand Google.org’s operations to other countries such as the Philippines and help organizations like as Gawad Kalinga–an organization that provides “land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry.”
Good idea. I mean Bill Gates is frantically giving away his money to worthwhile charities, its not as if Google won’t have pocketed another $4-5 Billion by this time next year.