Google CEO keen on M&A to extend cloud computing lead
Nikkei quotes Eric Schmidt as saying company is seriously looking at acquisitions.
Google Inc. is ready to seize any opportunity to grow its cloud computing business, Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said, The Nikkei reported in its Wednesday morning edition.
Schmidt said that Google has “begun seriously looking at acquisitions again” in an interview Monday at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. The Internet giant is training its sights mainly on venture-stage firms poised for growth.
A pioneer in cloud computing, Google is hurrying to further strengthen its capabilities. It decided last month to acquire On2 Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of video compression software. Similar deals may be on the way as Google scans the horizon for firms with key technologies or promising Web services.
Click here to find out more!”If they come along, we’ll do them,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt predicted a global progression from the personal computer era to the age of cloud computing over the next 10-15 years. He also indicated that rival Microsoft Corp. “is having trouble moving to cloud computing.”
In its last major acquisition, Google announced in April 2007 that it would buy Web advertiser DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion. The buyout was completed last year.
Microsoft announced last month that it will form an alliance with Yahoo! Inc. Schmidt said Google will counter by focusing on innovation and seeking its own tie-ups with other firms on Web searching and advertising.
Amid the U.S. recession and falling demand for Web ads, Google has been trimming jobs and pulling out of noncore businesses since the start of the year.
“I think the worst is behind us,” Schmidt said of the economic downturn.
He sees a recovery coming later this year and seemed eager to take Google on the offensive again.
“We think there’s a pretty big investment opportunity in Japan,” he said.
Google holds more than 60% of the global market for Web searches. This dominance has led Microsoft and others to brand it a monopoly, but Schmidt shrugged off this charge.
“We’re much more likely to listen to criticism from a consumer…than we are from somebody who is losing revenue because of the Internet,” he said.
Google Inc. is ready to seize any opportunity to grow its cloud computing business, Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said, The Nikkei reported in its Wednesday morning edition.
Schmidt said that Google has “begun seriously looking at acquisitions again” in an interview Monday at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.
- By Dow Jones Newswires | Totaltele.com
- Naiomi Solomon
