October 3, 2008 by Matt Thomas
You’d think it would be enough to be the dominant search engine in the world, enjoying an unprecedented level of dominance over the Internet market, but apparently not. Over the course of this year Google have, it seems, allowed their eyes to stray from the Internet to loftier aspirations like combating global warming and promoting lunar exploration.
This broader focus has come to the chagrin of many investors who, it is said, would prefer the leadership to focus on their expanding range of Internet products rather than changing the world.
However, Google has never behaved like a normal company. Shareholders were warned that things like this may happen before the company’s public offering four years ago, where Larry Page and Sergey Brin warned investors that the company may take on work that seems, “Very speculative or strange when compared to our current businesses.”
These decisions began with things like Google selling print and radio advertising before moving on to the creation of Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, which, again, came with warnings that it “May eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact.”
While the company is still profitable for the shareholders these dalliances are likely to continue to be tolerated. However, in an age where the household names like HBOS and Lehman Brothers – another company that, only a year ago, aimed to fix global warming – are going under due to overextending themselves, their concern appears to be valid.
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