Google CEO: We're Open To Making Strategic Acquisitions
October 15 2009 - 5:34PM
Dow Jones News
Google Inc. (GOOG) is open to making large and small strategic
acquisitions now that the worst of the economic crisis has passed,
the Internet search company's chief executive said Thursday.
"We're open for business, making strategic acquisitions, both
large and small," Eric Schmidt said during a conference call with
analysts. Schmidt's comments came as the company reported
third-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations.
Schmidt previously said the company was once again in a buying
mood, but his earlier comments seemed to downplay the prospect that
Google would be willing to consider large deals.
"While there's obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of
economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind
us, and we're seeing lots of signs of that in all of the industries
that we pay attention to," Schmidt told analysts.
Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette added that while
the company ended the third quarter with fewer employees, the
improving economy will enable the search giant to step up
investment in a targeted and disciplined manner, including
accelerating hiring across the company, particularly in engineering
and sales.
-By Scott Morrison, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118;
scott.morrison@dowjones.com