Google's Nadir Premature

The follow up to the recent flurry of "Google is evil for growing prosperous so fast" articles is a piece from Slate imaging Google's eventual collapse. The fantasy has Rupert Murdoch gobbling up newspapers and outfoxing Google in online services.

The Achilles' heel of this argument is that while Rupe has done a truly exceptionally job in working with satellite TV and cable news, it is extremely difficult for old and new media companies to have profitable marriages. For example, America Online bought younger Internet services company Netscape, but that mediocre marriage was great compared to the debacle of AOL buying Time Warner, which has since gone back to its maiden name.

Likewise telecom and publishing giant Terra Networks bought Lycos a few years back, and then dumped it at a huge loss. Fox News may be the king of cable news, but as an online news destination, it is far from the top of the charts.

Also, for those envious of Google's success who are imagining its reckoning day, remember that the company splits some of its billions in ad revenue with countless publishers, who would be similarly affected if it falls. It's highly unlikely that Google will continue its incredible growth rate, but old media isn't likely to steal its thunder.