Eric Schmidt addressed a group of Princeton University Alumni this June, and said during the Q&A segment that Google would not be developing a corporate VC program (see PE Week: Google CEO jeers Microsoft’s VC program).
Now, less than six months later, Google is in the game of making venture investments, like putting money into mesh wireless startup Meraki. It’s hard to argue with Google’s stock performance, but some bloggers already are calling for the company to scale down its offerings. Valleywag, for example, has called for an end to Joga Bonito, the search engine company’s soccer fan site.
Google may have money it thinks it can blow ($10.3 billion) on startups, but administering a portfolio can be a burden and can alienate potential partners (see PE Week: Corporate investors storm back into venture deals). It may want to think twice before jumping into venture investing.
