Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Google is doing well. Some of their older investments (like AI maybe) are already making them money.

And they have a few bets that with time and some luck could make them a lot of money.

It's very likely they would be able to cover their investments, at the very least.

And they have ackuired many new capabilities as a result.

It makes for a better financial future, a stronger company long term, and also, contributing so much value to the world is simply a good thing.




How much “longer term”? Compare Apple’s, Microsoft’s, or even Amazon’s revenue mix since 2001. They have all diversified. Google still makes 90%+ of its profits selling ads.


Selling ads does speak nothing of diversification.

In 2001 Google probably only sold search ads.

Today they sell ads on so many digital places, some of those they own.

As for the question of "long term" - Google X was founded only 9 years ago.

That probably a reasonable time for a drug startup to show sucsess.

And they recently started testing self-driving cars with no safety driver , with real passengers. So they're close to some deployment.

That seems quite good.


In the last 9 years, Apple has introduced two products that are probably larger generators of revenue than the iPod.

Microsoft has released Azure.

Saying that a Google sells ads in more places is about as “diversified” as saying Apple sells iPhones on more carriers.


In 2001 Google didn't own YouTube. Today it does.

YouTube profits from selling ads, that's true.

Yes YouTube makes all of their money from selling ads. But it's fate is highly independent from Google search. That's diversification.

Same idea goes for Other Google businesses.

As for Apple - it's less diversified than it seems: the fate of the watch, for example, is highly dependent on the fate of the iPhone.


And all indications is that Youtube is barely profitable....


How's Google cloud doing? Does that count?





Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: