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Schmidt, who was brought into the company as CEO by its lead venture investor in March 2001, says that the founders "disagreed with everything I believed" when he first met them. Why couldn't Google simply remain a small company? they wanted to know. Why does earnings growth need to remain steady?
So the question is, will the suits ruin Google to get their money out?
Market watchers have been waiting for Google to fill the post because it was seen as a hurdle to listing its shares on a stock exchange.
Google Hires CFO, Key Post for Growth Plans [reuters.com]
The streets are littered with companies that have gone down this road and fallen apart, hemmorage cash, and now serve as little more than ad vehicles for Ebay, Amazon, and others with lots to spend to push the competition under the rug.
they wanted to know. Why does earnings growth need to remain steady?
It doesn't! unless a company puts itself in the position of having to satisfy the unrealistic expectations of the public markets. It'll be little short of amazing if Google can pull off an IPO, maintain the integrity of its search results, and thrive long term.
The most important word in that sentence is immediate.
Hiring this CFO like this is definitely to prepare the company's books and investment story to sell to Wall Street in an IPO. Based on this move, I guess that they want to do an IPO in the Spring of '03. It'll take that long to prepare for it, and if convential wisdom about the stock market is right, then we should be in a upswing then.
