Google Insurance for Wall Street?

Posted by tim on October 09, 2008 at 02:08 PM

The topic of the economy is one all too obvious for those of us in the U.S. and not one I really want to dive deep into at this blog. There are more than enough folks talking about the impending doom on Wall Street.

There is a piece of this story though, that is near and dear to all of us in the online marketing space: the impact on the tech sector and, more specifically, the big G (Google).

(While it's more than obvious, I'm going to offer this caveat; the following observations, comments, musings, are mine - I'm not an expert in financial markets. If you want guidance, watch Cramer - with aspirin - or talk to a pro.)

Google's stock price, like so many others, has taken a hit in the last several days. If we look back to September 21st, the stock price was as high as $449 per share. As of this morning (10/9) Google shares are trading at around $345.

The obvious here is that this all ties much more to real estate and banking than it does to tech. Since the banks are hurting though, and the big money sources are starting to hoard, it does hurt tech, since it's much more unlikely for people to invest on speculation.

There is more at work with Google though, at least I think so. Here's a company who's IPO opened at roughly $80. People were making massive buys on the stock at that price, driving shares up to over $700!

I wonder if what's happened here is that companies are realizing that the only money they have is the huge gains they've made on Google stock. So with everything else going to pot, why not sell off some G and put cash back in the bank?

Maybe in addition to Advertising, and Search, and Publishing (nod, wink), Google inadvertently got into the insurance business.