Google Doodles and the Investors Behind Them

"body">components of a web page can be manipulated
Google has long been known to beloved users and towithout actually clicking anything. While that may be
this writer as pretty much the only search engineold technology (Adobe pioneered Flash years ago),
with personality, to internet and tech speculators asit's technology that Google has never particularly
a business and industry innovator, and to early stockembraced.
investors as an absolutely boon for their retirementWe'll simply just have to wait and see what Google
accounts. Probing all 3 could give us some insight intosays at the Museum of Modern Art later today. In
the big G's think tank and whatever the bigthe meantime, it's worth noting what a powerful and
announcement the company is expected to releasedisruptive company Google has been since its 1998
today at the Museum of Modern Art in Sanlaunch and subsequent initial public offering a year
Francisco, and could result in a nice bump in the stocklater. The company's stock price has multiplied
price.five-fold in just over 10 years, a nearly unheard of
You've undoubtedly seen and enjoyed the "Googlefeat of impressive growth.
Doodles" on holidays, which refer to the cute andEarly this year, Google also changed the corporate
commemorative animations that appear on Google'slandscape not just for American companies but for
homepage just above the search box periodically.an entire overseas country, and everyone who
Whether it be Santa on a sled overtop a home withwatched the debacle. The company made a bold and
the Christmas lights spelling out the company's name,public exit from China, with CEO Eric Schmidt saying
or more recently, their April Fool's joke logos (thisin a Newsweek article, "this isn't a business decision.
year Google "announced" on July 1st they would beThis was a responsibility decision", after a hacker
switching names with Topeka, Kansas, citing,attack on human rights activist's private Gmail
"Topeka voted to bring super-fast broadband to theaccounts was eventually traced to a Chinese
residents of the Capital city through a programUniversity. The move says a lot about how company
Google has launched; Google was flattered andbalances and behaves between the interest of its
wanted to return a nice gesture. Topeka, in return,own principles and of their stockholders. Moving out
would rename themselves Google, Kansas"), Googleof China is a terrible move from a business
loves to display those doodles.standpoint - they stand to lose 17% of their market
The Google Doodles are at it again, but with noshare to Chinese rival search engine Baidu, who owns
specific holiday or event to attribute the new doodlesnearly 70% of the market share, in what is
to, Internet-wide speculation has been sparked andconsidered by some as the largest market in the
the rumors are flying. You may have noticedworld.
yesterday on the Google homepage the flashBut from a corporate responsibility and ethics
animation above the search box of little colored ballsstandpoint, it's an absolute triumph. On one of the
that would fly in every direction when a mouselast pages in its IPO, Google wrote a clause
barreled through them, only to settle into the familiardisclaiming that the company may not always act in
Google logo we're used to on boring and uneventfulthe interests of the stockholders; that there may
days.come a time when it will make decisions based on its
The Google logo is all grey upon first impression. Startcharacter morals and standards for doing business.
typing, however, and the letters begin to colorize. So,To decision to pull out of China and stand up for
why all the effort?what the company believes in is a breath of fresh air
Today, Google is taking over the Museum of Modernin our scandal-plagues era or corporate irresponsibility.
Art in San Francisco for a search event led by someShares of Google are currently trading up just a
of the company's top executives and engineers. Thefraction of a percent, but if the weight of the
event was announced last Friday, and via a Twitterannouncement today is powerful enough to move
message, Google hinted the company has anthe market, intuition suggest it will move higher. I
announcement to make, but it's really anyone's guess.wouldn't say the price of Google's share is inflated,
It's obvious to me that Google has some feature orand it's too early to assume the news of today's
product or update they will be rolling out, and theannouncement is built into the price. In the end,
doodles and Twitter messages is their way of sayingregardless of the announcement and whether or not
"it's something big". The animations have one thing inthe stock moves today, there's a lot to be proud of
common - an example of how the interface andas a Google shareholder.