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GOOG » Topics » Risks Related to Our Business and Industry We face significant competition from Microsoft and Yahoo.This excerpt taken from the GOOG 10-K filed Feb 13, 2009. Risks Related to Our Business and Industry We face significant competition from Microsoft and Yahoo. STYLE="margin-top:6px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:4%">We face formidable competition in every aspect of our business, and particularly from other companies that seek to connect people with information on theweb and provide them with relevant advertising. Currently, we consider our primary competitors to be Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. Microsoft has developed features that make web search a more integrated part of its Windows operating system and other desktop software products. We expect that Microsoft will increasingly use its financial and engineering resources to compete with us. Microsoft has more employees and cash resources than we do. Also, both Microsoft and Yahoo have longer operating histories and more established relationships with customers and end users. They can use their experience and resources against us in a variety of competitive ways, including by making acquisitions, investing more aggressively in research and development and competing more aggressively for advertisers and web sites. Microsoft and Yahoo also may have a greater ability to attract and retain users than we do because they operate internet portals with a broad range of content products and services. If Microsoft or Yahoo is successful in providing similar or better web search results or more relevant advertisements, or in leveraging their platforms or products to make their web search or advertising services easier to access, we could experience a significant decline in user traffic or the size of the Google Network. Any such decline could negatively affect our revenues. SIZE="2">We face competition across all geographic markets from other internet companies, including web search providers, internet access providers, internet advertising companies, destination web sites, and local information providers, and In addition to Microsoft and Yahoo, we face competition from other web search providers, We also compete with web sites that provide their own or user-generated content and provide advertising to their users. These destination
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In certain markets outside the U.S., opportunities. Most large advertisers have fixed advertising budgets, a small portion of which is allocated to internet advertising. We expect that large advertisers will continue to focus most of their advertising efforts on traditional media. If we fail to convince these companies to spend a portion of their advertising budgets with us, or if our existing advertisers reduce the amount they spend on our programs, our operating results would be harmed. STYLE="margin-top:18px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:2%">We expect our revenue growth rate to decline and anticipate downward pressure on our operating margin in the future. STYLE="margin-top:6px;margin-bottom:0px; text-indent:4%">We believe our revenue growth rate will generally decline as a result of a number of factors including increasing competition, the inevitable decline in growth rates as our revenues increase to higher levels and the increasing maturity of the online advertising market. We believe our operating margin will experience downward pressure as a result of increasing competition and increased expenditures for many aspects of our business. Our operating margin will also experience downward pressure if a greater percentage of our revenues comes from ads placed on our Google Network members web sites compared to revenues generated through ads placed on our own web sites or if we spend a proportionately larger amount to promote the distribution of certain products, including Google Toolbar. The margin on revenue we generate from our Google Network members is significantly less than the margin on revenue we generate from advertising on our web sites. Additionally, the margin we earn on revenue generated from our Google Network members could decrease in the future if we pay an even larger percentage of advertising fees to our Google Network members. |
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