What every journalist should know about Google

The Business Beat

A good journalism professor once told me that comparing and constrasting can be useful tools in telling a story to an audience. Some may argue that comparing Google to news/information companies is apples and oranges, but each of the following companies mainly sells advertising to generate revenue.

The New York Times Company publishes The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe and 15 other daily newspapers, owns (is selling) nine television stations and two New York radio stations; and has approximately 35 Web sites.

Established 1851

$3.3 billion revenue in ‘06

$(543) million income ‘06

$721 million long term debt ‘06

11,585 employees

The E. W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in national lifestyle cable networks, newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, electronic commerce, interactive media, and licensing and syndication.

Established 1878

$2.5 billion revenue ‘06

$353 million income ‘06

$766 million long term debt ‘06

9,000 employees

Gannett Co., Inc. is a large diversified news and information company.

Established 1906

$8.0 billion revenue ‘06

$1.2 billion income ‘06

$5.2 billion long term debt ‘06

49,675 employees

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally assessible and useful. Google generates revenue by providing advertisers with the opportunity to deliver measurable, cost-effective online advertising that is relevant to the information displayed on any given page.

Established 1998

$10.5 billion in revenues ‘06

$3.1 billion income ‘06

Zero debt ‘06

10,674 employees

While analysts look for revenue growth in the mid-single digits for the three news companies mentioned above, Google could see growth in the 50 - 100 percent range.

Information compiled from MarketWatch, E-Trade and company Web sites.

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