May 03, 2007 | Thursday
Google to buy Dow Jones?
By Jackie Danicki - Blogger in News |Search Engines |Google
Nothing perks my ears up like hearing someone - or multiple someones - claim that “X is definitely not going to happen. It’s a no-brainer.” That’s what people whose opinions I hold in very high regard are saying about the rumour that Google will buy newspaper company Dow Jones. Let’s take a look at the reasons behind the dismissals.
Joe Weisenthal, one of the brainiacs at corporate intelligence firm Techdirt, says that only a fool would bet on this acquisition coming to fruition:
This is, to put it succinctly, never going to happen. Anyone who thinks that Google would shell out billions of dollars for a newspaper company doesn’t realize what business Google is in, or, at the least, doesn’t understand its business model. At this point, it seems like the name Google is just thrown around because it’s a huge company with a pile of cash, rather then there being any logical reason for it. So if you’re closely following this story, this is one rumor that you can safely ignore.
Just to be clear: Google’s business model is search. Helping people find things is how they made all this cash in the first place - so much cash that not a day goes by when there’s not another fresh rumour about which company they’re acquiring next. As one commenter at Techdirt jokes, if you can find a company that Google is not rumoured to be on the brink of buying, that would actually be news. (It’s only funny because it’s true!)
Meanwhile John Battelle says, well, it could happen, but it would only be a remotely good idea with a very specific set of circumstances:
The only way this makes any sense...is for Google to take a public service stance and put the Wall St. Journal in a non profit trust. Now that would be ballsy.
As Battelle points out, this has been done before: Britain’s Guardian newspaper is held in such a trust. But it seems the smart bet for where Google is going to put any spare cash is on things like grants for hybrid electric car groups (just announced hours ago), not on gigantic newspaper companies. Watch this space to see just how much water these predictions hold…
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