How Things Will Shake Out for the Rest of Google’s Management Team

There's been lots of speculation about who's in and who's out at Google under Larry Page. I weigh in with my views.

Read my full post at Forbes.

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Google Is Too Cheap

By Eric Jackson
RealMoney Contributor
5/18/2010 7:32 AM EDT
Click here for more stories by Eric Jackson

I've recently been critical about Google (GOOG - commentary - Trade Now). The company has made a number of missteps this year and hasn't really demonstrated much urgency in fixing things. However, the negative sentiment on Google is too high and the price is too low. Although I've had my complaints about the company and its lackadaisical culture, it's drifted too low for too long. I like Google as a good turnaround bet from here and intend to find the right entry in the next month or so.

There's no question that Google has had a difficult year. Its stock price is down 18% versus a 3% rise in the Nasdaq over the same period. It is not used to under-performing the benchmark.

A few weeks ago, Google announced it would be leaving China in a dispute over the information requested by the Chinese government. Since then, Baidu (BIDU - commentary - Trade Now) -- the top search player in China -- has seen its stock price surge 23%, and it has recently split the stock. Google's share price, meanwhile, has continued to slump.

Google's new mobile operating system, Android, has had difficulty attracting investors' attention since the start of the year, while everyone has been focused on Apple's (AAPL - commentary -Trade Now) successful iPad launch.

Since it became clear that the iPad would be a hit -- and would give iMac, iPhone and iPod users a new reason to rush out to the Apple Store to buy yet another gadget they can no longer live without -- most large mutual funds have been playing catch-up, buying up Apple shares. Google, amidst the iPad buzz, has been an afterthought.

Google is also losing talent. Its top salesman, Omid Khordestani, has retired. Android Senior Product Manager Erick Tseng just left Google to join Facebook's Mobile team. That suggests he saw bigger opportunity at Facebook Mobile.

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[This post is an excerpt of the full article, available by clicking here to go to RealMoney.com. Note: subscription required.]

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Google's Shareholders Should Thank Patrick Pichette (and Shona Brown)

Google's (GOOG) investors quickly cheered yesterday's earnings out of the gate in the after-hours, bidding the shares up to $410 -- they've since fallen back to $385. We'll see what they do today in the broader session.

The reason for the fall back in share price? After initial investor euphoria over a top and bottom line beat and increase over a year ago, some cautious macro comments from Eric Schmidt and perhaps the announcement of the moving on of one-time sales rock star, Omid Kordestani, gave investors pause. Still, the results are impressive.

What GOOG shareholders should be thankful for is the hatchet the company took to expenses and cost rationalization. Trimming jobs and other expenses -- previously not a GOOG strength -- helped profit climb almost 9% from a year ago to $1.42B. $110MM here, $110MM there: it starts to add up over time.

Shareholders should directly thank Patrick Pichette, the new CFO who came over last summer after cooly and calmly driving costs out of Bell Canada in his previous stint. Pichette was clearly brought in with a mandate -- and he's delivering.

And if you want to thank the person for bringing in Pichette, thank Shona Brown, GOOG's SVP of Business Ops. Brown -- a Canadian like Pichette -- also was a McKinsey consultant in her former life, just like him.

Originally published in RealMoney.com on 4/17/2009 8:04 AM EDT

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