
Eric Schmidt, in Control - bjonathan
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/01/23/eric-schmidt-android
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51Cards
How does this make it to the front page? Gruber cuts and pastes a third party
quote from Schmidt and this make HN top stories? Perhaps linking to a more
complete article would be more beneficial. Say the interview where the quote
was taken out of context:

[http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20091007/live-from-new-
york-...](http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20091007/live-from-new-york-google-
cofounder-sergey-brin-meets-the-press/)

The context is more along the lines of Schmidt was commenting on how Google
was entering a buying phase again. They had a reputation of finding small
start-ups that were interesting and absorbing them. He then points back to how
some of these turned out to be big wins, like Android and Google Earth. Buying
a startup for a couple million is peanuts to Google. I think they are more
profitable by moving quickly on these "small" tech purchases than sitting and
debating the logistics beforehand.

~~~
riffer
Sometimes less is more

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51Cards
Context is everything.

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CurrentB
eh, I find the isolated quote interesting and relevant in light of the recent
CEO change (surely the reason it was posted).

~~~
51Cards
Well if you look at the interview, the next question is about large purchases
and that those require review. I.E. These two items were very small when they
were bought, Youtube (the example given) wasn't and requires evaluation to
make sure it will pay off.

Pulling this quote out of context is trying to make it look like Schmidt
wasn't in the know. When in reality at the time these were bought they were
very tiny, and only grew into the "power-houses" they are now under Google's
tenure.

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PanMan
While Gruber posts this to point out how little control Eric Schmidt has, I'm
not that surprised. For a company the size of Google, a few millions is pocket
change (they make that in profit every hour (!)). I'm not surprised the
founders (who still control the company) can spend that without too much
hassle.

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othermaciej
It does seem a little strange that the founders could complete acquisitions
without even informing, let alone getting the approval of, the CEO. Is that
normal in corporate governance?

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yarone
A few million dollar acquisition is so small, it's akin to a new hire or
hardware purchase. Not worth debating with other members of management
(provided you've all agreed to go out and make acquisitions).

(Written on Android, incidentally)

~~~
yuhong
Not to mention the dual class thing.

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tejaswiy
Gruber pisses me off to no end. So much inaccurate analysis, it's mind
boggling. He became particularly unbearable after Google went after Apple
during the Gingerbread keynote. He just hates all things Google and you can
almost always ignore anything he says about them.

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afterburner
Surely the founders have some leeway when it comes to purchases of this scale.

