Newsletter
Google vs DoJ trial is ongoing, and all kinds of interesting info is coming from it. Remarks of Google’s Vice President for Finance, Michael Roszak, came to light. The Google exec basically compared the search business with the “cigarettes or drugs” business. This happened years ago.
A Google exec compared the search business with “cigarettes or drugs” businesses
He did that during a training offered by the company on communications in July 2017, reports Livemint. That info was spotted in the document released online by the Justice Department.
To be more accurate, this is what Roszak said: “Search advertising is one of the world’s greatest business models ever created… there are illicit businesses (cigarettes or drugs) that could rival these economics, but we are fortunate to have an amazing business”.
Roszak continued: “We’ve essentially been able to ignore one of the fundamental laws of economics – supply and demand. We could mostly ignore the demand side of the equation (users and queries) and only focus on supply side of advertisers, ad formats, and sales”. That actually gives a really nice explanation of what it’s like to be a top dog in the search business.
He also noted that Google was smart about it. He said that the company used “smart marketing/distribution investments” in order to get its product basically everywhere.
The DoJ hopes this will help its case, while Google doesn’t think it’s relevant at all
The Department of Justice (DoJ) is hoping that this document, amongst many others, will help it prove Google’s anticompetitive tactics to remain in a dominant position when it comes to the search business.
On the flip side, Google was against this document even being used in the trial. Why? Well, the company’s lawyers said that this document is not a business record, and thus it does not reflect the opinion of the company.
Furthermore, a Google spokesperson clarified things while talking to Bloomberg. This document was apparently drafted for a public speaking class. It was supposed to be “hyperbolic and attention-grabbing”.