Microsoft’s Ballmer Calls Google One Hit Wonder, Mocks Management Skills & Criticizes Future Growth

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, spoke at Stanford University the other day, calling Google a one-hit wonder, mocking Google’s personal time concept and calling their growth expectations “insane.” Ballmer questions business strategy of Google from Tech World reports Ballmer saying Google is “really just one business, a search and advertising business” and they are “trying to […]

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Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, spoke at Stanford University the other day, calling Google a one-hit wonder, mocking Google’s personal time concept and calling their growth expectations “insane.”

  • Ballmer questions business strategy of Google from Tech World reports Ballmer saying Google is “really just one business, a search and advertising business” and they are “trying to make it into a second one, that’s right and we’ll see how they do.” He then compares how Microsoft has went from PC software, to server software, to Internet Explorer and even the Xbox.
  • Microsoft CEO Says Google A ‘One-Trick Pony’ from CBS5.com reports that Steve Ballmer said “a random collection of people trying to do their own thing—that doesn’t create value, in my opinion.” Which, in a sense, mocks Google’s management skills – the same ones that have come up with Google AdSense and many other successful products. Of course, many of the concepts and projects from the 20% time, has also launched some failures.
  • Ballmer takes a potshot at Google’s ‘insane’ growth from The News Tribune reports Ballmer saying, “They’re going to double in a year. That’s insane, in my opinion.”
  • Postscript From Danny: Looking At Microsoft’s Continued Long Game In Search covers similar quotes Microsoft execs have made in the past over the years.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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