Sep 14, 2006 09:22 PM
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Wed Feb 10
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In the late 90s, Internet companies announced deal after deal, whether or not they made a difference, to bump up the stock price (presumably so the engineers could afford to bump more cocaine). Now, Google is acting the same way for no good reason.
Google doesn't need a stock bump. This is a stock that scared people by dipping below $370. Its gains for the past two years have mostly been slow and reliable. So why make such a big deal out of unimpressive partnerships like putting Google services into Intuit's QuickBooks or placing Google ads on eBay?
Maybe Google wants to toy with the analysts who predict share values everywhere from $110 to $600. Maybe CEO Eric Schmidt needs something businessy to do all day while founders Larry and Sergey play with the actual technology. But for a better answer, check out Google's partners.
eWeek blogger Steve Bryant looked over ten Google partners and saw one common thread: IBM, Real Networks, Intuit, Sun Microsystems, and others buddied up with Google after fighting Microsoft. (Google pays Mozilla, for example, to use its search engine in Mozilla's IE-alternative Firefox browser.)
That explains the deals themselves, but why the hype? As another person who wanted to Kill Bill said, "I want him to know what I know. I want him to know I want him to know. And I want them all to know they'll all soon be dead."
Step 1: Compete with Microsoft. Step 2: Partner with Google. Step 3: Profit. [eWeek]
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