Call It What You Will, Google Down $55 Billion
Google’s stock continued its epic slide in March, hitting its 52-week low for the first time in the history of the stock. GOOG currently stands at $447.70, almost $300 off its November high, taking the company from the brink of a $200 billion market cap and stance as one of the largest and most valuable companies in the world, down to $140 billion and on shaky ground.
Now, you could look at it like Google is roughly at the same level it was a year ago, and there’s nothing wrong with being flat for a year when you’re shooting for the long run, but that would ignore the fact that investors have lost billions of dollars betting on Google. A lot of those investors won’t trust Google next time, and some of them can’t afford to trust Google in the future.
Google’s growth has stalled, and Google’s stock was always based on potential, not actual earnings. Google’s price/earnings ratio is still over 33, which tells me that, compared against some other healthy companies in the industry, Google’s stock could drop another 50% as it struggles to find stability. Could we see another $200 drop over the next year or two? What kind of a disaster would that be for Google recruiting and morale?
[…] areas for improvement. Also, considering the decline in the value of the Google stock I am actually glad I didn’t get the job! My net worth would’ve been down 30% had I made it through their […]
Pingback by My interview experience at Google « Quality On Time | March 6, 2008
Dude this is no real surprise. It is something that effects even the most prolific dreamers, it is called reality.
Life cant be joggers, toasties and working when it suits you all the time. Sometimes you can’t live in a university like bubble. Especially when the metaphorical cops are at the door.
Bill Gates isn’t the richest man on earth anymore either. Wake me from this nightmare when its over please!
Comment by Kevin Ireson | March 6, 2008
Google’s rise from a new company to where it is now is kind of unprecedented. I don’t see how it would be possible for any company to sustain such growth. I guess the second stage of a company such as Google is to consolidate its growth / position and then take things from there. That’s probably where Google is now more-a-less.
Comment by Eamon | March 14, 2008