Reuters about Google Complexity
January 27, 2012
If a company knows about complicated corporate set ups, it is Thomson Reuters. I found the write up “Analysis: Wall Street Puzzles over Google’s New Direction” interesting because it shows what Thomson Reuters thinks about a company which is less complicated that Thomson Reuters. In fact, both Thomson Reuters and Google may share more characteristics than some imagine. For example, Thomson Reuters is a YouTube partner. And Thomson Reuters’ latest innovation is a print magazine for “consumers” at the World Economic Forum. Google has a magazine as well. It is Think Quarterly. At least Google does not describe the magazine as a consumer product, preferring to tackle themes such as speed, people, innovation, and data. which is a plus. I must admit I never thought of George Soros as a consumer, but I live in rural Kentucky. What do I know?
Thomson Reuters has a very complicated organizational set up and very confusing product and service names. You can check out both of these facets of the shot gun marriage of professional information and “real” journalism at http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/.
So what does Reuters say about Google? Google “has become an increasingly tricky business to grasp.” Here’s the passage which caught my attention:
If Page’s bets pay off, search could represent just one of several large and thriving businesses as Google recasts itself as a full-fledged “media and services” company.
Since replacing Eric Schmidt last April as CEO, the Google co-founder has aggressively tossed out underperforming and non-essential projects and products. The idea is to put “more wood” behind the company’s most important arrows, he has said.
Among those arrows are Google+, the eight-month old social network; Android, the smartphone operating system; and YouTube, the video Website it bought six years ago for $1.65 billion.
Clearly, these have been very successful ventures. Android has become the world’s No. 1 smarpthone operating system, surging past Apple Inc’s iOS, the software that powers the popular iPhone. YouTube is delivering 4 billion video views per day. And 90 million users have signed up for Google+.
What is less clear is how much money Google can eventually generate from these largely free services, such as from advertising sales.
For Google to keep growing, it needs access to a wider range of content on which it can place ads and make money, particularly as the tech landscape shifts and consumers’ Internet habits evolve.
What I find interesting is that this analysis applies directly to Thomson Reuters. One can argue that Elektron, Eikon, and the Thomson Reuters health care business are equally big bets.
Fascinating how one troubled company can write about another troubled company. Which outfit is in better shape: Google or Thomson Reuters? My view: Google. One way to solve that content problem may be for Google to buy an outfit like Thomson Reuters.
Stephen E Arnold, sponsored by Pandia.com
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