From a humble beginning in 1996, Google have gone on to become one of the most successful companies of all time, covering almost ever area of internet life, constantly expanding and cementing their position on the internet going forward.
The share price of the company has reflected this meteoric rise, with the company’s shares rising over 400% since launch, valuing the company at a mind blowing $121 billion! Turnover for last year was an impressive $10.6 billion, continuing the historical year on year growth, with profitability rising to $3 billion. While the stock market has a strong love affair with the company, they are valued on a sky high rating which leaves little room for disappointment.
How much would it cost to re-build Google today?
When you consider the massive increase in turnover, the rising profits forecasts looking ahead and the company’s ever growing grip on the world wide web, there is an argument that there is no way that you could rebuild Google from the beginning. The company was formed at a time when the internet was just beginning to gain main stream interest, and they managed to position themselves at the top of the pile when the internet really took off.
Their cash cow, which is Adsense, continues to bring in billions of dollars a year, and while there have been some rumblings of discontent of late, the Adsense business is still head and shoulders above anything else currently available. There are some great comparisons between Google and eBay,, in that investors were sceptical of both in their early days. However, both of them have pushed on to dominate their respective business areas - with little real competition against them, a part from the payment system market where they offer their own services.
While you can never say never, and a major competitior may appear to take on Google at some point, it seems highly unlikely that they would let this happen. It would cost billions upon billions of dollars to rebuild Google in this day and age, and while they go from strength to strength there seems little chance of anyone stepping forward as a serious contender for the top slot. Perhaps an MSN / Yahoo merger may offer some relief, but it seems that this will not happen in the short term.