Google Inc, owner of the most popular Internet search engine, is adding fewer employees and focusing on controlling expenses amid the global economic slump, chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said.
“We have slowed our hiring, but we’re still hiring,” Schmidt said in an interview. “We’re still doing the same kinds of exciting and crazy things that Google always does.”
Google is grappling with an economic slowdown that’s curbing growth in the online advertising market, while competition intensifies with Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp for customers’ budgets. Schmidt said that while the overall ad market may be shrinking, Google benefits from its ability to target specific users. The company’s business hasn’t changed significantly in the past two weeks, he said.
“Google is in a good position,” said Schmidt, 53. “We’ve always said we take a long-term view.”
Separately, Google said on Monday it would reduce its use of contract workers as a cost-cutting move. The company employs about 10,000 contract workers, spokeswoman Jane Penner said in a telephone interview.
Google had more than 20,000 regular employees at the end of the third quarter, up from almost 11,000 at the end of 2006. The Mountain View, California-based company added 519 workers in the third quarter, compared with 2,130 in the same period a year earlier.
Schmidt, who is an adviser to US president-elect Barack Obama, said the government needs to stimulate the economy with improvements to the country’s infrastructure, including roads, schools, bridges and power plants.
“We have an opportunity to replace oil and coal and all the traditional kinds of problematic power sources by new technologies invented and powered in the United States, which will create a lot of new jobs,” he said.
Schmidt said the government needed to move quickly with Citigroup Inc, which received a rescue package yesterday that shields the bank from losses on toxic assets and injects US$20 billion of capital.
“Had Citigroup or any of these other banks failed, we would have had a bank run of colossal proportions,” Schmidt said. “The damage would have been much worse.”
Meanwhile, Starbucks said the US financial crisis had hit coffee sales, with an “extremely challenging” period forecast for fiscal year 2009, the company said in its annual report on Monday.
The financial downturn would translate into fewer customers and less coffee sold, the company said.
“Starbucks customers may have less money for discretionary purchases as a result of job losses, foreclosures, bankruptcies, reduced access to credit and sharply falling home prices,” it said.
“Accordingly, Starbucks expects to report negative comparable store sales for fiscal 2009,” which ends in September, it said.
Starbucks reported third-quarter losses for fiscal 2008 that ended on Sept. 30 and further losses for the year’s fourth quarter. Earlier this month, it announced a 50 percent drop in annual profits.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
REGIONAL PEACE: The US is supporting Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities by providing the nation with defensive arms and services, as it aims to maintain cross-strait stability The US on Friday reiterated its support for Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities in a statement affirming its commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. The White House said that Washington has supported Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities through a range of security assistance authorities and resources, including the first-ever use of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) for Taiwan, as well as International Military Education and Training (IMET). US President Joe Biden had identified the Indo-Pacific as the critical region for the future of the US and the world, it said. “In pursuit of regional peace, security and stability, we have reinvested in our defense
RSS