Well, you know, I'm just a hobbyist at this :).
You know, I think GOOG is a great company longterm. I think if I'd stuck to my plan and held ten years that would be just fine. But reviewing my own psychology and what I've been doing ever since the crazy bull market died, I see that I probably just cannot do that. I get a certain amount of profit and I get nervous and want to keep it, and I sell. So.
I really am not too worried about competition to GOOG. It's the algorithm, guys :). Honestly, GOOG's search is unbelievable. And the basic model of free information and paid ads is a good one, I think. I also know they *are* ambitious, they don't want to just be rich (they already are) and they're not so much interested in a monopoly the way Bill Gates was, as a monopoly in order to CHANGE THE WORLD. BG and AG (before Goog and after Goog). Perhaps in that way their genius is more akin to that of Steve Jobs. Sure, he has figured out how to run a good business. But Apple Computer, Pixar, Ipod, they are attempts to change the way we experience things. I would assume that as some on this thread suggested, part of their motive in going into China is they do know Chinese folks can use proxy servers etc. Information is freeing and it's better to be there than not. Of course profit is involved, but I just don't see them as purely after profit. So sometimes they may end up making decisions out of the ambition to change the world, and so sometimes they may try experiments related to that that are a waste of time and money. |
