9 ms·

I don't understand how google could be split up, would they redirect traffic from google.com to another search engine?

vkou 7y ago
The ad business and the search business could theoretically exist as separate entities. The ad business would then buy page space from the search business.
- katttrrr 7y ago
  That's an interesting point. Yet, I'm not sure I fully understand what you'd expect would change with this?
- marcosdumay 7y ago
  I imagine this would be the most effective split-up. If the ad business is required to let other search engines compete on the same terms as Google, it will remove the largest barrier to entry for small companies on search.
  - katttrrr 7y ago
    Theoretically, couldn't they still set different terms per search customer? Thus, still favoring themselves
    - elliekelly 7y ago
      The ad entity wouldn’t be “themselves” to the search entity anymore so there wouldn’t be any incentive to give one random customer a more favorable rate than the rest.
    - marcosdumay 7y ago
      Well, not if the courts say they can't. Splitting monopolies always come with extra strings attached, and this is a obvious one you can expect to be there.
jumpman500 7y ago
Images, voice search and text search could be split up into different competing companies. Youtube is the second most popular search engine. That could be broken off of Alphabet. GMail could be it's own company. Google Photos could be it's own thing. Google Drive/docs/sheets could be it's own company. There's a lot of ways to break up google.
- adventured 7y ago
  Gmail, Google Docs, Photos, Drive, etc. would all be rolled into a separate company. There would be no good reason to make Gmail or Photos separate companies. Photos would be a horrific business standing alone.
  - jumpman500 7y ago
    Why? Isn’t photo storage the thing most people care about for cloud storage? Image recognition and organization is also pretty valuable to most people. It’s only not a good business model now because Google makes all these services free. These services could make money on their own if they had too.
aaronbrethorst 7y ago
One split that comes to mind is: 1. Google Search+search ads 2. YouTube 3. Chrome 4. Android 5. Content ads
- m0zg 7y ago
  Whereupon parts 2 through 5 promptly die out due to insufficient revenue and talent exodus.
  - aaronbrethorst 7y ago
    YouTube would be a Fortune 500 company on its own. Mozilla seems to be doing just fine. I'm sure Chrome, Inc. could figure out some way to monetize itself. Android is installed on over 2.5 billion devices worldwide. If they couldn't figure out how to monetize that, then they would have no business being in business. Adsense/Doubleclick/whatever they're calling it right now makes billions of dollars per year. All five parts would be monstrously large, powerful businesses on their own. The fact that they're all smooshed together stifles competition and innovation.
    - m0zg 7y ago
      I kinda doubt YT will be anything if it needs to build and maintain its own infrastructure, run its own datacenters, have its own fiber links, etc. Their cost structure assumes that they get all of those things from Google at a fraction of the cost they'd pay if they had to roll their own or host their stuff in the public cloud. Android could be something, maybe, but if you remove Google's services and AI on the backend it's just a third rate iOS rip-off. Content ads likewise rely on low cost networks, infrastructure, and having everyone's profiles available to them for ads targeting. Remove access to profile and make them fend for themselves, and it's an open question whether they'll survive. I do agree with your last point though: having all these things as a single monolith presents an insurmountable obstacle for other companies to enter the corresponding markets.
      - prepend 7y ago

vkou 7y ago

The ad business and the search business could theoretically exist as separate entities. The ad business would then buy page space from the search business.

katttrrr 7y ago
That's an interesting point. Yet, I'm not sure I fully understand what you'd expect would change with this?
marcosdumay 7y ago
I imagine this would be the most effective split-up. If the ad business is required to let other search engines compete on the same terms as Google, it will remove the largest barrier to entry for small companies on search.
- katttrrr 7y ago
  Theoretically, couldn't they still set different terms per search customer? Thus, still favoring themselves
  - elliekelly 7y ago
    The ad entity wouldn’t be “themselves” to the search entity anymore so there wouldn’t be any incentive to give one random customer a more favorable rate than the rest.
  - marcosdumay 7y ago
    Well, not if the courts say they can't. Splitting monopolies always come with extra strings attached, and this is a obvious one you can expect to be there.

jumpman500 7y ago

Images, voice search and text search could be split up into different competing companies. Youtube is the second most popular search engine. That could be broken off of Alphabet. GMail could be it's own company. Google Photos could be it's own thing. Google Drive/docs/sheets could be it's own company. There's a lot of ways to break up google.

adventured 7y ago
Gmail, Google Docs, Photos, Drive, etc. would all be rolled into a separate company. There would be no good reason to make Gmail or Photos separate companies. Photos would be a horrific business standing alone.
- jumpman500 7y ago
  Why? Isn’t photo storage the thing most people care about for cloud storage? Image recognition and organization is also pretty valuable to most people. It’s only not a good business model now because Google makes all these services free. These services could make money on their own if they had too.

aaronbrethorst 7y ago

One split that comes to mind is: 1. Google Search+search ads 2. YouTube 3. Chrome 4. Android 5. Content ads

m0zg 7y ago
Whereupon parts 2 through 5 promptly die out due to insufficient revenue and talent exodus.
- aaronbrethorst 7y ago
  YouTube would be a Fortune 500 company on its own. Mozilla seems to be doing just fine. I'm sure Chrome, Inc. could figure out some way to monetize itself. Android is installed on over 2.5 billion devices worldwide. If they couldn't figure out how to monetize that, then they would have no business being in business. Adsense/Doubleclick/whatever they're calling it right now makes billions of dollars per year. All five parts would be monstrously large, powerful businesses on their own. The fact that they're all smooshed together stifles competition and innovation.
  - m0zg 7y ago
    I kinda doubt YT will be anything if it needs to build and maintain its own infrastructure, run its own datacenters, have its own fiber links, etc. Their cost structure assumes that they get all of those things from Google at a fraction of the cost they'd pay if they had to roll their own or host their stuff in the public cloud. Android could be something, maybe, but if you remove Google's services and AI on the backend it's just a third rate iOS rip-off. Content ads likewise rely on low cost networks, infrastructure, and having everyone's profiles available to them for ads targeting. Remove access to profile and make them fend for themselves, and it's an open question whether they'll survive. I do agree with your last point though: having all these things as a single monolith presents an insurmountable obstacle for other companies to enter the corresponding markets.
    - prepend 7y ago