Investors Shun Google CEO
May 8, 2011
E-Commerce Times has reported in it’s article “Google Investors’ Motto: Don’t Be Youthful” that investors are essentially dropping Google stock that was down and continues to fluctuate after Google’s recent earnings report. E-Commerce Times thinks one reason may be that some investors see Larry Page, Google co-founder and newly appointed CEO, as too inexperienced to run the sprawling company.
That type of chatter may make work a more challenging for Larry Page. Imagine that you helped to build a company from the ground up and then your investors didn’t think you were mature enough to run it. Let’s be fair, it’s not as if Mr. Page were a teenager that makes rash business decisions, he’s a 38 year old grown man perfectly capable of running a company.
The “Don’t be youthful” idea seems to suggest that Mr. Page is perceived as focusing on pet projects as well as Google’s main goal of increasing shareholder value. Google is a successful company. However, if investors see Google shares at a peak, Google could face stakeholder push back.
The article said:
Google is an exemplar of innovation in some areas, but in others it loses site of the proper process innovation requires, said Mark Faust, author of the book Growth or Bust! and head of Echelon Management International, pointing to the much-hyped driverless car concept. There is no doubt the founders are creative and technically savvy, he told the E-Commerce Times — it is just that some feel they lucked into successful business models that weren’t initially their strategic choice.
Google faces a number of Beat the Clock trials. The specter of Facebook capturing a larger percentage of the online display advertising business looms. The problems with various legal matters are annoying at best and at worst can lead to reversals that make headlines. Finally, the effort to improve the relevance of search results continues to roil the search engine optimization sector.
Maybe E-Commerce Times is wrong headed? On the other hand, maybe not.
Cynthia Murrell, May 8, 2011
Freebie
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
