March 16, 2007 at 07:41Steve Ballmer considers Google's growth rate crazy
Steve Ballmer at a meeting with students of Stanford Graduate School of Business once again pleased the audience with interesting stories. In particular, he commented on the growth rate of Google simply - "this is crazy."
Ballmer said that Microsoft has gone to the figure of 75,000 employees for three decades, while Google spent much less time on it: “They try to grow twice every year. This is madness". True, he noted, "this does not mean that they are doing everything wrong."
Comparing business models, Ballmer noted that Google’s entire business is built primarily on “search advertising,” while all other products are just an appendix to the core. “They do a lot of lovely things,” said the head of Microsoft, breaking the applause and loud laughter in the hall.
Steve Ballmer identified 4 stages in business: an idea, bringing it to a “critical mass” (state of development), making a profit (milking it financially) and the emergence of a new idea. Google, he said, is in the third stage - the “kitten and milk” stage: “Microsoft went through this in the 90s ... or, I would say, in the 80s and 90s.”
By the way, during his speech, Eric Schmidt was nearby: he had lunch in the cafeteria of the university.
You can watch the video recording of the performance here . Strongly recommended to anyone who knows English: Steve Ballmer is an excellent speaker.
Ballmer said that Microsoft has gone to the figure of 75,000 employees for three decades, while Google spent much less time on it: “They try to grow twice every year. This is madness". True, he noted, "this does not mean that they are doing everything wrong."
Comparing business models, Ballmer noted that Google’s entire business is built primarily on “search advertising,” while all other products are just an appendix to the core. “They do a lot of lovely things,” said the head of Microsoft, breaking the applause and loud laughter in the hall.
Steve Ballmer identified 4 stages in business: an idea, bringing it to a “critical mass” (state of development), making a profit (milking it financially) and the emergence of a new idea. Google, he said, is in the third stage - the “kitten and milk” stage: “Microsoft went through this in the 90s ... or, I would say, in the 80s and 90s.”
By the way, during his speech, Eric Schmidt was nearby: he had lunch in the cafeteria of the university.
You can watch the video recording of the performance here . Strongly recommended to anyone who knows English: Steve Ballmer is an excellent speaker.