Re:Google retires Google Health and PowerMeter projects
by hexix on Saturday June 25, 2011 @08:50AM
(#2695545)
Correct me if I'm wrong but those revenue numbers wouldn't account for other products driving their ad revenue. Gmail probably isbresponsible for ablot of ad revenue but would be be considered as not moving the needle.
I think the ad revenue is so high because it's the end goal of nearly every "fun" product.
During my interviews at Google I asked a lot of questions, and the answers I got gave me a very scary view of how the place really works.
The search and ads teams work in a magical castle high in the clouds. Almost everything else in the company is considered a fun side project. You are not supposed to think about making money, or being successful. Don't worry about getting users either, that will come as a side effect of being a Google project.
10% of the company accounts for 97% of the revenues ($30+ billion/yr). When you are in the 90% of the company that generates the 3% "other" revenue, its easy to get your project killed, or your engineering staff reassigned, etc. A $100 million dollar a year business unit does not move the needle at all, so you can never be sure of your future.