Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
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Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#2Undoubtedly, people will soon scream 'Bubble!', but I believe this is part of the inevitable shift of technology becoming the driver of the world's economy.
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#3Highest valued == Most Valuable ?
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#4Undoubtedly, people will soon scream 'Bubble!', but I believe this is part of the inevitable shift of technology becoming the driver of the world's economy.
I doubt this actually. Google is a much more visible part of everyone's daily life than Exxon. If Google were more valuable than the sum of the entire petroleum industry, then we would have a problem, but as it stands, demand for Google's goods and services is much more inelastic, and relatively more valuable, than Exxon's contributions alone.
Then again, people will call anything a bubble. But its easy to see that this is not evidence of it by asking yourself if we'd be worse off if Google disappeared tomorrow vs if Exxon did.
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#5Undoubtedly, people will soon scream 'Bubble!', but I believe this is part of the inevitable shift of technology becoming the driver of the world's economy.
Google's value vis-à-vis Exxon reflects Google having a lightly regulated de facto monopoly on search in most internet connected countries, while Exxon is in a fragmented, heavily regulated industry. Technology becoming the driver of the world economy would involve it ([1] http://www.econstats.com/wdi/wdiv_533.htm
[2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#6I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but I think Google still has a long way to grow. I can easily see them as the first trillion dollar company and well beyond that.
I think they understand the process of re-inventing themselves better than any other tech company. They acquire a lot of companies, some of which continue to grow and change the very nature of Google itself (example Android). They also understand Black Swan Farming and practice it at a level (billions of dollars at a time) that almost no one else does.
Andy Rubin's robotics undertaking is a good example. Page wrote him a billion+ dollar blank cheque and should it succeed, it'll make Google the leading robotics company - likely alone worth as much as Google today. Should it fail, well, it's only 2% of their cash pile. They've made similar bets on almost all promising future tech - AI, clean energy, the internet of things etc.
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#7I prefer to live in a world where tech companies are our highest valued, not oil companies.
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#8Undoubtedly, people will soon scream 'Bubble!', but I believe this is part of the inevitable shift of technology becoming the driver of the world's economy.
Google's value vis-à-vis Exxon reflects Google having a lightly regulated de facto monopoly on search in most internet connected countries, while Exxon is in a fragmented, heavily regulated industry. Technology becoming the driver of the world economy would involve it ( [1] http://www.econstats.com/wdi/wdiv_533.htm [2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
> while Exxon is in a fragmented, heavily regulated industry
You seem to imply the assumption that the regulations in the energy industry don't benefit ExxonMobil.
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#9The thing I wish to see them focus on the most is making Google Fiber everywhere. I wish they would take their ISP division more seriously.
Re: Google Passes Exxon to Become Second-Most Valuable U.S. Company
#10Undoubtedly, people will soon scream 'Bubble!', but I believe this is part of the inevitable shift of technology becoming the driver of the world's economy.
Google's value vis-à-vis Exxon reflects Google having a lightly regulated de facto monopoly on search in most internet connected countries, while Exxon is in a fragmented, heavily regulated industry. Technology becoming the driver of the world economy would involve it ( [1] http://www.econstats.com/wdi/wdiv_533.htm [2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
Wikipedia lists the characteristics of a monopoly here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#Characteristics
Which of those characteristics do you see in Google?