Clearmeadow Partners Founder-Managing Partner Jordan Rohan told
search summit attendees that there are a couple of surprises in the revaluation of the leading Internet companies following the economic meltdown. The top surprise, he said, is that Amazon is actually
up, not down. In fact, it’s growing the fastest of the Big 4 Internet companies: Google, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon.
The main reason, he said,
is the Kindle effect.
“I attribute a lot of this to Kindle. Kindle is sort of the iPod, but for readers. It’s been an extraordinary
success.â€
How successful? Well, Rohan said about 30% of all sales for books that are available in a Kindle format, are now sold for that
device.
The other big development, he said, was the decline of Google’s valuation. It went from a high of $225 billion market capitalization
to about $130 billion now.
Why is that significant for anyone other than a Google investor, or potential acquisition target? Because Google still
accounts for about half of the Internet’s market capitalization, if you take Microsoft out of the mix, and Rohan does. And that means Google is a bellwether for the entire Internet economy.
“We’re rooting for Google,†Rohan said.
So how hard should we be rooting for
Google. Well, Rohan predicts there still is pent up demand for Google’s search inventory, and that its stock will surge as a result of it.
To prove it, he did a grassroots survey of the summit attendees, asking those who have a feeling for their upcoming search advertising budgets, what percent expect it to rise vs.
fall.
“I count 27 to three,†Rohan said of the show of hands favoring growth.
If
the summit room is indicative of the overall search advertising marketplace, Rohan may be right.