Google Market Cap. since Sundai Pichai become CEO (Source: Koyfin, 20 Feb 2023)
This is the question that Om Malik is posing after Chat GPT launch from Open AI and their strategic partnership with Microsoft. Here I have some key takes:
- The Google stock performed extremely well under Sundai Pichai’s leadership, as can be seen in the picture above
- The Atlantic has a piece on Google that is running out of ideas. For those late to the party, most of what Google sales or delivers for “free” is bought. (Double click, Maps, Youtube, Android, Nest etc). Well, you can’t reach a $1 trillion company if you don’t innovate in some places. I am long on Google, but I pay a closer attention to Youtube: the best disrupted of TV, Netflix and the advertising industry in general. LINK
- The company tries loads of stuff, hence the unreasonable huge number of employees, but is letting most of the projects fail. The best mind will focus on what brings the cash, ie. ads. Google Graveyard, CULTURE
- The biggest challenge comes from Bing/Chat GPT: search is actually going towards entertainment, which is a massive market. (utility remains an important market too, but just a small fraction of entertainment)
- We have entered into a period where a “peacetime CEO” like Sundai Pichai might not be the right solution, indeed. Here is a selection of commandments from Ben Horrowitz from a16z. LINK
“In peacetime, leaders must maximize and broaden the current opportunity. As a result, peacetime leaders employ techniques to encourage broad-based creativity and contribution across a diverse set of possible objectives. In wartime, by contrast, the company typically has a single bullet in the chamber and must, at all costs, hit the target.” – Ben Horowitz
