Alphabet’s $4bn in “Other Bets”
In 2016 Alphabet raked in $87.4bn in revenue and almost $20bn in profits. However, 99% of that comes from Google alone. I came across this chart that displays their other bets in place to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket.
Google Fiber: Google Fiber aims to provide internet at super speeds across the United States. Rollout has been costly and only nine locations have been launched since 2010. Calico Labs: Calico Labs is made up of elite scientists with $1.5 billion worth of funding to research the causes of aging and how to expand the human life span. Nest: Founded by two former Apple engineers, Nest produces smart-home technology such as sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats. Verily: Verily’s mission is to reinvent healthcare using groundbreaking technology and data, such as a glucose-sensing smart contact lens for diabetics. GV: GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, is Alphabet’s venture capital investment arm, making strategic investments in startup companies in fields such as life sciences, agriculture, and robotics, to name a few. CapitalG: CapitalG makes investments that are “return-driven”, focusing on growth stage companies, such as Stripe, Airbnb and SurveyMonkey. X: X uses breakthrough technology as a radical solution to big problems. Its most famous projects are its self-driving car and Google Glass.
I mainly knew about their moonshot factory, X, but didn't know about these other businesses. Any of them standout as potential game changers?
Larry Page is also the owner of a separate company that is not an Alphabet subsidiary. Apparently, this company is working on building flying electric cars, which is fascinating.
missing Waymo, the self driving car project
I haven't looked into any of them in detail, but it seems that Google Fiber, Calico, Verily and X can be potential game changers. Personally, I am most curious about Calico and Verily.
Aside from Google Fiber and possibly Nest, if they can ever get their act together and keep their products on the market, none of the other companies are really trying to create products that will have a direct consumer connection. The others are going to most likely be patent houses that distribute patent licenses to various other industries to use in their products. The broad scope of the product types that these companies are working on will make it almost impossible for Alphabet to distribute resources in a way that best supports each company in its growth. Besides Google itself is about information not "products" in a traditional sense.
Verily just got spun off.
Verily is a spinout of Google but remains apart of the Alphabet family, although it has its own equity structure and has external shareholders.
You're missing Waymo (self driving car), Jigsaw (geopolitics), DeepMind (artificial intelligence) and Sidewalk Labs (urban infrastructure). I think a lot of them have potential but since Ruth came in as the new CFO, these organizations are under more pressure to produce short term revenues/profits so they can be self-sustaining (i.e. less money for crazy shit).
Darn these finance people, ruining all the fun ;)
Anyone here live/work with Google fiber? Curious on user experience.
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