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What opportunities did Google miss? They have plenty of cash, so I don't think buying YouTube prevented them from buying anything else they wanted.
by rbarooah 16y ago
What opportunities did Google miss? They have plenty of cash, so I don't think buying YouTube prevented them from buying anything else they wanted.
- mikeryan 16y agoThe opportunities may not be traditional acquisitions. They could have spent that money buying fiber backbones, 4G Spectrum, clean or solar energy plants. I would have much rather seen google branch out more into infrastructure then into another consumer facing web play, especially one with such a long window on ROI. Its not necessarily about having the money or not so much as how could that money have been better spent. A nice counter example, in 2007 MS bought 1.5% of Facebook for 250M at a valuation of 15B. Currently Facebook shares are selling at a valuation between 100B and 200B - split that down the middle and that MS investment is now worth $2.5B, which makes their small investment in FB look a heck of a lot better then Google's Acquisition of YouTube. EDITS - I keep adding to this point, I apologize. Most of this comes off of realizing that Google didn't even pay cash for YouTube, it was a stock acquisition. NOTE: I should also say as an armchair analyst I thought Google's purchase of YouTube at the time was pretty good and MS's investment at the time in Facebook was pretty bad. I've now reversed my positions on both, so take that for what its worth.