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Stock: Google vs. Yahoo

27 Oct 2004 by Jason Fried

Do you expect Google to come down to meet Yahoo or do you expect Yahoo to rise to meet Google? Or neither? Oh, chart here. And, doesn’t Google’s market cap ( 51.19B) seem a little inflated next to Yahoo’s ( 49.24B) — a company that basically does the same thing just as well plus a whole lot more? Or is it the “whole lot more” that’s keeping Yahoo down? Is diversification bad for Yahoo?

One thing is for sure — the 5-day wait to run Overture ads along side Yahoo’s search results is ridiculous (especially considering that the competition, Google Adwords, gets your ads up within minutes).

Hmm… Are Google and Yahoo really competitors?

10 comments so far (Post a Comment)

27 Oct 2004 | Geoff said...

When was the last time you used Yahoo to search for something?

I haven't used it in years other than checking it out occasionally to see how things ranked, or to check out the redesigns.

Also, yahoo vs google in my search terms/referrals, yahoo is practically non-existant on all the sites I manage.

Then there's the revenue - got a comparison of that? What about Profits?

27 Oct 2004 | Carl said...

Yahoo's revenue and profit margin are both higher than Google's.

27 Oct 2004 | Chris from Scottsdale said...

I've actually found Yahoo has better search results on some topics lately, especially when I include local attributes like city, state, zip.

27 Oct 2004 | Jonny Roader said...

Google's search results have been slipping for a while. Almost everyone I know agrees that its (high) standards have slipped. I'd put Yahoo! equal these days.

27 Oct 2004 | Rimantas said...

Maybe "slipping" results is a price to be payed for popularity? I am talking about "SEO optimization" (in the bad sense).

27 Oct 2004 | karl said...

Well if they are competitors, and/or similar companies and/or in the same industry/markets, something's gotta give. Google's P/E is ~224 vs. Yahoo's ~96.

So does Google have 2+ times the growth prospects of Yahoo? Or are they even more different than that, to the point where that should be 3 or 4 times Yahoo's? I would guess that means Yahoo is overvalued rather than Google undervalued.

27 Oct 2004 | mephisto said...

Yahoo is still alive because of all the services they provide (email, calendar, etc) - once Google provide the same services (gmail) but better, then Yahoo will go down.

27 Oct 2004 | pb said...

Google's competence at rolling out new products and services organically is more impressive.

28 Oct 2004 | Holy Cow said...

Old and busted: Yahoo
The new hotness: Google


Google charges $5 to activate its ads; Overture charges $50. Big difference there.

I've last used Yahoo for searching 3 years ago. Of all the sites I manage, Google vs Yahoo for referrals is about 90-10.

28 Oct 2004 | David said...

Wow, this is a big bandwagon.

Yahoo and Google have a lot in common, from search capabilities to advertising technologies and myriad complementary features. Valuation leans on growth, and right now Wall Street is betting that Google will grow that much faster than Yahoo. Not a bad bet, considering that in many regards Yahoo is a maturing company, and Google is not.

Google is on its way to becoming the next Yahoo, for better and for worse. Remember, we're in an innovation, not a creation, phase: Google is just a search engine (albeit a terrific one) and Gmail a gussied-up mail client. Google does great things, but despite its founders' impressive nonconformity, it's not that unique.

Still, while I turn to Google for most of my searches, I still use Yahoo for my finances, fantasy sports, some email, and some instant messaging. Google, turn into Yahoo? It could do a lot worse.

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