Based on the market close yesterday, Google's market cap of $190.28 billion is greater than Time Warner, Disney, and News Corp, which total $188.73 billion. Google's market cap is 3.6x WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Interpublic, Aegis, Havas and MDC combined. Google Hits New High, Valued At More Than Time Warner, Disney, News Corp. Combined.
Among the factors driving Google's appeal to investors is its relentless drive for a greater share of the overall media pie. Google's Adsense Content Network begins to hint at a strategy of distributing video content across the Internet to enable Google to move upmarket into the very rich rich media advertising segment. It's advertising driving new content distribution channels. And players hungry to break out of second-tier status (not those in the previous paragraph) are eager to participate.
Market cap measures only the equity component of a companies capital structure. To calculate the total value of a company, you must look at its enterprise value (market cap + debt - cash). For Google that is $180b, for TWX, DIS and NWS that is $247 billion.
Posted by: cordaroy | October 10, 2007 at 11:02 AM
Google is in a growth business. Those other companies are not.
At 30 times next years earnings Google is a bargain compared to most companies with its growth rate. However, their profits are all search. At some point a better product will come along. The question, will Google have diversified enough by then.
Posted by: David Neubert | October 09, 2007 at 03:47 PM