Google Trio Made 20-Year Partner Pact

Investors worried about FCC bid, but honchos are thinking long-term

By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 31, 2008 2:40 PM CST

Copied

Google Trio Made 20-Year Partner Pact — Google co-founder Larry Page, left, and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, right, walk the exhibit hall almost unnoticed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008. Google does not have a booth at CES. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Associated Press)

Google’s top three honchos made a pact just before their 2004 IPO to stay together at the search behemoth for at least 20 years. News of the informal agreement—which one analyst called “really very, very positive”—comes as investors fret about the company's bids in the FCC auction of the 700 MHz spectrum, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Google stock has fallen 22% the past month as shareholders worry that bidding for the spectrum—which could lead to a competitive wireless Internet market, upping Google's ad revenue—will cost the company at least $4.6 billion. A spokesman who discussed the pact said the execs are long-term thinkers; indeed, the 2004 IPO prospectus stressed “the fortitude” to make short-term sacrifices. (More Google stories.)

Report an error