Its not just that - if a firm needs financing stock price and its trend is of great importance for purpose of setting the interest rate and/or price of equity.
As far as staff goes - Google is well beyond the point where the stock options are the motivation for staff. Google's stock won't grow 100-1000x in next 10 years. It's impossible. Also working for Google today is not a risky activity anymore.
Today one would join Google: a) To experience the googly world and to leverage that experience in the future. b) To work with some of the best and brightest in the world and to use this experience as litmus benchmark for himself. c) To earn a competitive salary without much risk. d) To work on some project that the rest of the world is not aware of or deems to risky of an enterprise. e) To see how Larry & co. organized this miracle and to learn from it.
Google ain't the company it was anymore. It also never was anything like other "like" companies - Larry and Sergey made sure of it. And Larry & Sergey would IMHO rather run it into the ground than to make it another corporate monster like any other.
The pundits of course want to sell the story how Google will magically rise for 30% a year for some arcane reasons. What Larry did was refuse them alibi for such course of events. And this drop in stock price - I attribute to sell off from short term funds that were looking to cash in on Larry's take over - however they didn't analyze it enough to see what is coming.
Also regarding Google's opportunities. Google cannot grow on adsense anymore. If it wants to become an industry figure like IBM it will need to diversify (and that is exactly what it's doing for some time now). Google is not a marketing company. Or at least it doesn't want to be one. It wants to be a tech company - thats why it is betting massive stakes on green energy, robotic cars, artificial intelligence, etc...
Google's intentions seem clear to me - it is trying to become a GE, Bosch or Siemens of 21st century - and focus on quarterly results is not a way to go about it.
As far as staff goes - Google is well beyond the point where the stock options are the motivation for staff. Google's stock won't grow 100-1000x in next 10 years. It's impossible. Also working for Google today is not a risky activity anymore.
Today one would join Google: a) To experience the googly world and to leverage that experience in the future. b) To work with some of the best and brightest in the world and to use this experience as litmus benchmark for himself. c) To earn a competitive salary without much risk. d) To work on some project that the rest of the world is not aware of or deems to risky of an enterprise. e) To see how Larry & co. organized this miracle and to learn from it.
Google ain't the company it was anymore. It also never was anything like other "like" companies - Larry and Sergey made sure of it. And Larry & Sergey would IMHO rather run it into the ground than to make it another corporate monster like any other.
The pundits of course want to sell the story how Google will magically rise for 30% a year for some arcane reasons. What Larry did was refuse them alibi for such course of events. And this drop in stock price - I attribute to sell off from short term funds that were looking to cash in on Larry's take over - however they didn't analyze it enough to see what is coming.
Also regarding Google's opportunities. Google cannot grow on adsense anymore. If it wants to become an industry figure like IBM it will need to diversify (and that is exactly what it's doing for some time now). Google is not a marketing company. Or at least it doesn't want to be one. It wants to be a tech company - thats why it is betting massive stakes on green energy, robotic cars, artificial intelligence, etc...
Google's intentions seem clear to me - it is trying to become a GE, Bosch or Siemens of 21st century - and focus on quarterly results is not a way to go about it.