Could Google buy Facebook someday?
Why wouldn’t Google go after Facebook? After a lackluster IPO, at least one analyst is already predicting the demise of Facebook. Why not wait until Facebook has bottomed out and then pick it up for a song?
After watching Facebook’s market cap over the last week (and Google’s in comparison since they went public), I can’t help but wonder if Facebook’s business model is ultimately unsustainable. Check this:
- ANNUAL REVENUE: Google, $38 billion; Facebook, $3.7 billion.
- ADVERTISING REVENUE: Google, $36.5 billion; Facebook, $3.2 billion.
- ANNUAL NET INCOME: Google, $9.7 billion; Facebook, $668 million.
The real difference between the two is in social network users. Facebook has nearly a billion and Google’s are closer to 200 million (give or take twenty million). But where’s the money? That’s where Google does well: not only does Google provide a search engine so ubiquitous that it’s a verb, Google is also has an email tool, the pervasive advertising on the web, business products such as spreadsheet and wordprocessing, and a cloud type tool, now, too. And that’s just the more mundane of offerings from Google.
Meanwhile, Facebook has the narcissism of 900 million people, their “Likes,” “Friends,” and bad photos. Their advertising doesn’t bring in near the revenues that Google’s does, and their business model may not even be sustainable much longer.
It kind of makes me wonder if Facebook could be a logical target for a takeover by Google sometime in the future. Or by Microsoft or Apple, for that matter. Why not?
And then regulators could shift into high gear to decide whether that’s too much of the “interweb” controlled by one company. (At least if Google bought Facebook, our posts on Facebook would finally become search engine optimized).
Related articles
- Facebook stock sinks to new low amid rumors of Opera browser acquisition (mercurynews.com)
- Facebook Has Lost About $35 Billion In Value Since IPO As Shares Dip Below $29 (techcrunch.com)
- Why Facebook Is Still The Perfect Startup (Slides) (techcrunch.com)
- Facebook Is Just an Overpriced Combination of Google and Zynga (minyanville.com)
