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June 23, 2009 Google Invests $2.6 Million More in 23andMe Google said it has invested $2.6 million in 23andMe , Inc., a privately-held personal genetics company dedicated to helping individuals understand their own genetic information through DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools. The startup was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, wife of Sergey Brin, Google's President. Google previously invested $3.9 million in the Series A preferred stock financing of 23andMe in May 2007. In November 2007, Google purchased additional shares of Series A preferred stock of 23andMe held by an investor in 23andMe’s Series A preferred stock financing for approximately $500,000. Google made this investment in the Series B preferred stock financing of 23andMe pursuant to Google’s existing right to purchase its pro rata share of new securities issued by 23andMe. Google continues to hold a minority interest in 23andMe as a result of the Series B investment. 23andMe’s Series B financing involved a number of additional investors including New Enterprise Associates. Prior to Google’s investment in 23andMe’s Series B preferred stock financing, Sergey also invested approximately $10 million in 23andMe’s convertible debt financing, which was converted into Series B preferred stock as part of this financing transaction. In June 2009, Google also entered into a lease agreement with 23andMe. Google’s Audit Committee reviewed and approved the investment and lease transactions as part of Google’s procedures for entering into transactions with related parties. The valuation of the Series B investment was determined by negotiations between New Enterprise Associates and 23andMe in which Google played no role. Sergey Brin also holds approximately 38% of Google’s Class B common stock. June 15, 2009 Google Launches Design Competition The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Google are kicking-off the Design It: Shelter Competition, a global competition that will challenge users to design a simple shelter in 3D with Google SketchUp, give it a geographic location using Google Earth, and share it by uploading to the Google 3D Warehouse. The summer-long competition, which begins on Frank Lloyd Wright's birthday and will conclude on the Guggenheim Museum's 50th anniversary, is inspired by the work of architecture students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and a recent exhibition of that work at the Guggenheim called 'Learning by Doing'. A signature project in the school's curriculum for over seventy years, students are tasked with choosing a location near one of the school's Taliesin campuses in Arizona and Wisconsin and designing a small, 100 square foot shelter. Students are encouraged to consider human needs for safety and comfort, and more broadly, to recognize the connections between a structure and its geographic location. The Design It: Shelter Competition offers a twist on this assignment, empowering anyone -- not just students -- to use Google tools to think about design and ultimately share their ideas with the world. After choosing a location in Google Earth, competition participants use SketchUp to design their shelters in 3D and upload them to the Google 3D Warehouse. They submit an official entry on the Guggenheim website and, within a couple of days, will be able to see their work, as well as other participants' submissions, with the Google Earth Plug-in on the Guggenheim Museum's website. On October 21, 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum, winners will be announced and prizes will be awarded. Both winners will receive airfare and two nights' accommodation for two in New York City, behind-the-scenes tours of both the Guggenheim Museum and the Google Office in NYC, complimentary admission to selected NYC museums, and a Google SketchUp Pro 7 license. June 3, 2009 Google Offers Tool for Local BusinessesGoogle has introduced a new dashboard feature in the Google Local Business Center (LBC) that will provide business owners with a powerful level of information about how Google users are interacting with their local listings. The Local Business Center (www.google.com/lbc) is a free tool that enables business owners to control the content of their listings in Google Search and Google Maps. With the addition of the new dashboard, the LBC will now draw upon local search data to help owners optimize their local listings and their other efforts to attract more customers. It's estimated that 82% of consumers use search to find local businesses, and the LBC dashboard will initially provide business owners with the following data on that activity in Google Search and Google Maps: * Impressions: The number of times the business listing appeared as a search result on Google.com search or Google Maps search in a given period. With the LBC dashboard, business owners will be able to identify trends, such as days of the week when interest in their business spikes, or seasonality in the types of searches that lead potential customers to their listings. Owners will also be able to better determine how changes to their listings -- such as adding a video or refining their category -- influence the traffic to that listing. May 26, 2009 Google Releases Faster Version of ChromeGoogle has released a new version of its Google Chrome Internet browser that is faster than ever and more stable according to the company. Chrome has been configured especially for JavaScript-heavy web pages which will now run about 30% faster. The new version also has added some useful features like form autofill, full screen mode, and the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page. Google unveiled Chrome last September. May 20, 2009 Eric Schmidt Speaks at UPenn GraduationMay 5, 2009 Google's Larry Page Speaks at Michigan GraduationGoogle co-founder Larry Page gives the commencement address at University of Michigan last week. Here is the link to full transcript. April 17, 2009 Google Reports First Quarter ResultsGoogle reported revenues of $5.51 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, an increase of 6% compared to the first quarter of 2008 but a decrease of 3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. "Google had a good quarter given the depth of the recession--while revenues were down quarter over quarter, they grew 6% year over year, thanks to continued strong query growth. These results underline both the resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the web as users and advertisers shift online," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Going forward, our priority remains investing for the long term to drive future growth in our core and emerging businesses." Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.70 billion, or 67% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2009. This represents a 9% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $3.40 billion and a 3% decrease from fourth quarter 2008 revenues of $3.81 billion. Google Network Revenues -- Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.64 billion, or 30% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2009. This represents a 3% decrease from first quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.69 billion and a 3% decrease from fourth quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.69 billion. International Revenues -- Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.88 billion, representing 52% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 51% in the first quarter of 2008 and 50% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $733 million, representing 13% of revenue in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 15% in the first quarter of 2008 and 12% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Paid Clicks -- Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 17% over the first quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 3% over the fourth quarter of 2008. Google said it employed 20,164 full-time employees as of March 31, 2009, down from 20,222 full-time employees on December 31, 2008. April 8, 2009 CVS Joins Google HealthNational pharmacy chain CVS has joined the Google Health network to offer customers access to their prescription history online. CVS joins a network of pharmacy partners including Walgreens, Longs Drugs and Medco Health Services. Now more than 100 million people can access their prescription history online and import it into a central, secure place -- a Google Health Account. Once your medication information is in Google Health, you can use the sharing feature to share it with anyone in your care network, including family members, doctors, and other caregivers. April 4, 2009 Google Launches $100 Million Venture FundGoogle is launching its own venture fund with up to $100 million to invest in startup companies. Google said it will invest in a broad range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech and health care. Investments will be made anywhere from seed to mezzanine stage. Bill Maris and Rich Miner are the Managing Partners of Google Ventures. The focus of the fund is to generate long-term returns and does not necessarily mean that Google will acquire any startups it invests in. The fund said it welcomes the opportunity to invest with other venture firms or strategic partners. March 27, 2009 Google Cuts 200 Sales and Marketing JobsGoogle has cut just under 200 sales and marketing jobs according to a corporate blog post by Omid Kordestani, Senior VP of Global Sales and Business Development for the search giant. The cuts were made to improve efficiency and reduce overlapping positions according to Kordestani. At the beginning of the year, Google cut 100 recruiters as hiring at the company has slowed down. The company also cut an unknown number of contractors at the end of 2008. March 13, 2009 Tim Armstrong Leaves Google for AOLGoogle's Senior Vice President for Advertising and Commerce, Tim Armstrong, has decided to leave the search engine to become the new Chairman and CEO of AOL. AOL, once a powerhouse on the Internet, has seen its fortunes fade after converting to a content site and losing paid subscribers. AOL is a division of Time Warner. Armstrong said in a statement: "I'm very excited about the opportunities presented in leading AOL. AOL has a wide-ranging set of assets and audience. The company is well positioned to enhance those assets into a larger share of the Internet audience and advertiser communities. AOL and Google have been partners for years and I look forward to collaborating with [Time Warner CEO] Jeff Bewkes and his team as we explore the right structure and future for AOL." Armstrong started at Google in the year 2000 and opened the first office outside of the Mountain View, CA headquarters. He joined Google from Snowball.com, where he was vice president of sales and strategic partnerships. Prior to his role at Snowball.com, he served as director of integrated sales & marketing at Starwave's and Disney's ABC/ESPN Internet Ventures, working across the companies' Internet, TV, radio, and print properties. He started his career by co-founding and running a newspaper based in Boston, MA, before joining IDG to launch their first consumer Internet magazine, I-Way. Armstrong sits on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Advertising Council, and the Advertising Research Foundation, and is a trustee at Connecticut College and Lawrence Academy. He is a member of Mayor Bloomberg's MediaNYC 2020 committee. He is a graduate of Connecticut College, with a double major in economics and sociology. March 5, 2009 Google Lists Bonuses for Key ExecutivesGoogle has given hefty bonuses to several key executives according to an SEC filing. No bonuses were listed for CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. All three own significant amounts of stock in the company. Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior VP of Product Management, received the largest bonus at $1.638 million. Omid Kordestani, Senior VP of Sales and Business Development, and Alan Eustace, Senior VP of Engineering Research, each got bonuses of $1.376 million. Google awarded $1.24 million to Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette. Former CFO George Reyes received a bonus for 2008 of $675,000. February 3, 2009 Google Earth Now Offers Ocean, Mars ViewsGoogle has announced the launch of ocean in Google Earth, a new feature that enables users of Google Earth to dive beneath the water surface, explore 3D underwater terrain and browse ocean-related content contributed by leaders in ocean science and advocacy. The new version of Google Earth also introduces Historical Imagery, a feature that enables users to virtually travel back in time through archival satellite and aerial imagery, Touring, which makes it simple to create a narrated tour in Google Earth and share it with the world and Google Mars 3D, which features hi-res imagery and terrain of the red planet. "With this latest version of Google Earth you can not only zoom into whatever part of our planet’s surface you wish to examine in closer detail, you can now dive into the world’s oceans that cover almost three-quarters of the planet and discover new wonders that had not been accessible in previous versions of this magical experience," said Former Vice President and Google director Al Gore at the launch event in San Francisco. "Moreover, with the new historical imagery feature, you can look back in time and see for yourself the unprecedented pace of change taking place on the Earth — largely because of human influences. For example, you can watch the melting of the largest glacier in Glacier National Park—the Grinnell Glacier—image by image, for the last decade." "In discussions about climate change, the world's oceans are often overlooked despite being an integral part of the issue," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "About one-third of the carbon dioxide that we emit into the atmosphere ends up in the oceans. Furthermore, biodiversity loss in our oceans in the next 20-30 years will be roughly equivalent to losing an entire Amazon rainforest, but this goes unnoticed because we can't see it. This is why today's launch of Google Earth 5.0 is so important - it gives us an opportunity to change everyone's perspective." Ocean in Google Earth combines sea floor terrain and expert content to provide users with an opportunity to explore some of the most difficult-to-reach parts of the world. Virtual travelers to Hawaii, for example, can examine underwater volcanoes, see videos about the exotic marine life of the region, read about nearby shipwrecks and contribute photos and videos of favorite surf spots. The new feature was developed in close collaboration with oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and an advisory council of leading ocean advocates and scientists. Also launched in Google Earth: Historical imagery: In previous versions of Google Earth, users could only view only one set of imagery for a given location. Now users can activate a time slider to see both newer and older satellite imagery from around the globe, enabling them to observe a single location's development over time. Touring is a simple new way for users to create narrated tours of imagery and content in Google Earth. By simply pressing the "record" button, users can fly from place to place, zoom in or out and click on content balloons, providing voiceover narration along the way. Whether creating a tour of one's family home or an in-depth study of environmental change, the tours are easy to create and even easier to share. Google Mars 3D is the latest stop on Google's virtual tour of the galaxy. Users can travel to Mars with the click of a button and see high resolution imagery and 3D terrain. They can fly to the top of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in our solar system, read geo-located excerpts about different locations on the planet from A Traveler's Guide to Mars, observe where various Mars Rovers and Landers have touched down and much more. GPS Tracking - Previously only available in the Plus and Pro versions of Google Earth, now all users can upload tracks from GPS devices (including many Garmin, Magellan, and NMEA-compatible devices) to Google Earth, making it easy to visualize and record running, hiking and biking routes. Google Earth 5.0 is now available in 41 languages (previously 26):English (US), English (GB), French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Dutch, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Polish, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Czech, Greek, Norwegian, Vietnamese, Bulgarian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Slovak, Filipino, Slovenian, Serbian, Catalan, Latvian, Ukrainian, and Hindi. |
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