Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Alphabet Inc. (Google) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: olivier asser who wrote (853)	2/10/2005 12:03:25 PM
From: olivier asser	Respond to of 15857

nytimes.com Google's Chef Speaks, but Not Its Finance Officer By SAUL HANSELL Published: February 10, 2005 Google summoned financial analysts to its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday for its first major presentation since its public offering last August. But in four hours of speeches, company executives barely touched on the company's finances. "They had a formal presentation by their chef but not their chief financial officer," said Mark S. Mahaney, an analyst with American Technology Research. "I have never been to an investor day where the C.F.O. didn't speak." Indeed, Google's top chef, Charlie Ayers, spoke to the assembled analysts and investors about the lunch he had prepared, featuring entrees like grilled pork tenderloin. The chief financial officer, George Reyes, moderated the presentation and answered a few questions, but did not give a formal talk. Google's executives kept to their policy of not discussing expectations for the company's future results, and they declined to answer questions about their product plans. Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, did highlight a few broad priorities for the company, like adding more types of information to Google's index and using personal information about each user to answer queries better. "We are moving to a Google that knows more about you," he said. Google's shares fell by $7.06, to $191.58, yesterday. Mr. Schmidt said that on the advertising side, Google had found its best market in midsize companies that are adept at using the bidding system that decides ad placement. Google is trying to reach out to smaller and larger firms. It now sells ads to 227 of the Fortune 1,000 companies, up from 156 a year ago. At several points Mr. Schmidt tried to argue that Google's strategy was not as haphazard as some critics have asserted. Some analysts have wondered why Google spends time on projects like Keyhole, which displays satellite photographs of the earth, when its more mainstream services, like e-mail and news, linger as prerelease test sites. "One of the great secrets of Google is that we are not quite as unconventional as we appear," he said, adding that the company has a traditional sales force and a disciplined planning process. Mr. Schmidt said Google tried to spend 70 percent of its effort improving its search service and advertising platform, 20 percent on related projects like shopping search and e-mail, and 10 percent on experimental ideas like Keyhole. He said that Sergey Brin, one of Google's founders and a mathematician by training, had proved that this breakdown was optimal. Mr. Brin's presentation focused on how Google was trying to recruit talented engineers even after its public offering reduced the value of its stock options. He talked about Google's long list of fringe benefits, which range from Mr. Ayer's cooking to on-site oil changes. Executives also highlighted their efforts to expand outside the United States. Google has more than a dozen sales offices overseas and is moving other operations there.

To: olivier asser who wrote (853)	2/10/2005 3:31:03 PM
From: Yogizuna	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15857

It seems you are getting whipsawed pretty badly with your predictions on GOOG... first you said you thought it was going down, which turned out to be the right prediction, then you changed your mind and said it was going up (but it kept going down), and now you say it is a sell again, after it already has become moderately oversold.... Time to step aside? <g>

To: olivier asser who wrote (853)	2/10/2005 3:41:08 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15857

especially WSJ hammered on GOOG's admission that they are having problems finding enough qualified talent to come in and therefore expansion is not where it should be. Maybe a hint, a warning that this will take longe, maybe an EPS miss in the near-term? I don't know. The problems with qualified talent thing is such a standard boilerplate comment for tech companies, what can you say? The hiring climate in the bay area and for Google specifically is better than the entire 90s period, even the beginning. Everybody wants to work at Google, and most companies are not agressively hiring, so they have the cream of the crop. as for the eps thing, Gosh what a leap, don't you think? I'll tell you one thing, I'm glad people and the markets even give a damn about these analyst meetings anymore. I own stocks that I don't think will move no matter what they do.