I first heard of Eric Schmidt several years ago when I listen to him during a panel discussion on technology. I was impressed...He was clever, bright and the CEO of of the biggest search engine in the world, Google.
But in an interview conducted last week Schmidt admitted he "screwed up" (those are his words, not mine). The powerful, effective CEO totally under estimated Facebook.
When Facebook was just a budding upstart with a meager 20 million users Schmidt examined whether Facebook might someday pose advertising competition for the search engine giant. He concluded no.
Today Facebook has 500 million users and is attracting online advertisers like honey does bees. Five years ago many of these online advertisers would have given their money to Google, Schmidt's company.
How bad was Schmidt's "screw up" (those are his words not mine)...so bad that it essential led to his firing. Schmdit has been replaced by Google founder Larry Page.
Since taking management control of Google, Page is making a huge effort to turn more of the companies attention to social networking. A move executives hope will correct Schmidt's gaffe and help Google regain the upper hand in the online advertising world.
But don't feel bad for poor, unemployed Eric Schmidt...his estimated wealth is $7 billion. Not bad for a guy that "scre... , well, you know.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment