Maybe they can just convert a bunch of their contractors to fulltime and create new customers for their Pixel phones, Chrome laptops- like Ford did 100 years ago.
Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
191–200 of 230 posts
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#192This reminds me of a talk I watched with Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt. I know Thiel is controversial, but he was well-meaningly digging at Google for running out of ideas and no longer innovating. The criticism was something like "You have so much cash on hand but no ideas to invest in. However, you can't pay a dividend because the second you do, you're admitting you've run out of ideas and are no longer innovating".…
what if they're forecasting a recession? Would it not be good to have cash on hand to start spending when the bottom appears close?
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#193Apple has used most of it on share buybacks, while alphabet has most of it locked up in Gov't bonds
I am surprised that you are being downvoted. Apple is actively trying to lower cash holding by aggressively paying dividends and doing share repurchase. https://www.barrons.com/articles/alphabet-should-take-a-page...
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not that they've run of ideas, it is that they've run out of market. There's only so much resources you can pull out of the set of people browsing the web. That set's size has stabilized. Its resources have been divided between largely online shopping and (indirectly) advertising, and the flow paths have been laid down and also stabilized. There's only so much new market every year, and there's only so much they…
Google's problem is that if they enter existing industries, they attract the ire of competition regulators. Google could eat entire industries if they wanted to, but there would be hell to pay from the EU and US regulators. So they are stuck trying to innovate.
I wonder how Google could help with solving climate change... perhaps that would be a very profitable problem to solve without regulators trying to stop them (because public goodwill)
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Google invests a lot. Look at CapitalG, GV etc. And now within Google itself, 2 projects which I think are aiming to become platforms: Stadia, Fuschia. Personally, I have been disappointed with Google in the AR front. Haven't heard much about investments/ acquisitions. OTOH, Apple has been acquihiring small teams, investing in microLEDs etc. Though, overall Alphabet's investments are much diverse.
You think Stadia is viable considering the lag? It's obviously worthless for competitive or even serious gamers. I am skeptical it will be enticing for casual gamers.
I rarely game. But after hearing about Stadia, I thought now I would like to try out some games. I am just excited to see how it turns out in the end (all if them: Microsoft, etc)
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
I played 30 hours of assassins creed on stadia during the beta and I didn't notice any lag, so yes.
Go play some CS:GO or Overwatch and get back to me.
No thanks, as a casual gamer, I have no interest in those games (I prefer single player ones and RPGs) and stadia sounds nice since I don't have to invest in gaming hardware while still being able to play a game every once in a while when one comes out that I like while still being able to have good graphics.
Also, I will be presumably able to play it on mobile, TV, and any laptop I have (I actually played it on a chromebook during the beta) which is super convenient.
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why not buy some companies and get some proper entrepreneurs back into the mix of management? Because it's inefficient. Google could buy a thousand biotech startups that are all doing innovative work trying to cure cancer and things like that, but that work has nothing to do with search engines or data centers, so it makes no sense to put it under the same roof. The same management staff isn't going to be effective…
Google investors won't be able to invest in high-risk biotech startups if they aren't accredited. Everyday investors are only allowed to access weird investments through the left-field bets of big companies.
Becoming an accredited investor doesn't take a lot of money... I would bet a good chunk of this site qualifies under the rules.
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's hard not to acree with Thiel here. We only need to look at Elon Musk to realize that there are still plenty of opportunity for moonshot investments. What does Elon know that Google as a whole doesn't?
> What does Elon know that Google as a whole doesn't? It's not what he knows per se, it's what he does, it's the source of his motivation for being and doing. It's that invention and innovation is most often driven by individuals - whether acting together or in solitary - in pursuit of something that matters to them. You saw this throughout the industrial revolution. You saw it at Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. You saw it…
Weird that this is downvoted.
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's just an argument for lowering taxes.
> That's just an argument for lowering taxes. It's both . You don't tax people and then provide everyone with a free dog, you just let people keep their money and they'll use it to get a dog if they want one. If you want to help the poor, you don't give them bureaucratic programs that require them to buy specific amounts and types of food, housing and education, you just give them the money and they can figure out wh…
> you just give them the money and they can figure out what they need better than you.
Alternatively they fall prey to lotteries, casinos, drugs, alcohol, or any other number of things and you're right back at square one... give them more money.
It's a blackhole feel-good policy that ignores reality. It's better to put strong social safety nets in place. Buy the food and the clothes for them, maybe even establish a discretionary stippend. But don't just say to people here's 20K ... Good luck! Most people don't have a concept of budgeting... It's not going to work.
Re: Alphabet overtakes Apple to become most cash-rich company
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, that's assuming that the free market is best at distributing wealth. Evenly distributing at least some of the money isn't the same as "spending" it.
The casual assumption that it is appropriate for government to tax people in order to distribute wealth "evenly" is disturbing. I'm reacting to the "even distribution" notion not taxing in general. I think there are legitimate reasons for government to collect taxes but ensuring even distribution of wealth isn't one of them, IMHO.
Uni is even to a cap which is completely different than even. Making sure everyone has enough to comfortably survive without restricting high earners from chasing riches is not the same as evenly distributing wealth.