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Peter Thiel likes to say that monopolies in general try to portray themselves as non-monopolies, as players in a broader field than just their lucrative special
by HillaryBriss 8y ago
Peter Thiel likes to say that monopolies in general try to portray themselves as non-monopolies, as players in a broader field than just their lucrative specialty. This portrayal is supposed to reduce regulatory scrutiny.
Applying this to Google means that funding a broad swath of technology projects makes the company look like much more than the dominant online search ad company. It's a general technology company.
- oh_sigh 8y agoAn alternative is that Google has a main revenue source, but they would like to diversify that.
- candiodari 8y agoYou know, as long the attempts fail, there would be no way to tell the difference between both, which meshes pretty well with "but it's really hard" comment made before.
- clairity 8y agoi'm not much of a thiel fan (e.g., poo-poos college, then sells book spouting business 101 concepts) but i agree with this. it's the main reason why google became alphabet: not so much for true diversification (because there is no discernable diversification strategy in their portfolio), but as a legal maneuver, a regulatory shield, and a playground for the leadership.