Monthly Archives: May 2007
GooTube – part II
Was Google’s $1.65 billion acquisition the result of decision traps?
This is the second part of an article on Google’s acquisition of YouTube.
The Decision Traps
So given the uncertainties and the process issues, it is possible that Google management – like many of us – fell victim to a variety of decision-making traps:
Affinity Bias
On more than one occasion, Google’s leadership has noted the striking similarity between YouTube’s founders and Google’s.
The day the acquisition was announced, Sergey Brin was quoted as saying, “It’s hard to imagine a better fit with another company. This (YouTube) really reminds me of Google just a few years ago.” A few days later, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated, “Chad and Steve remind me of Larry and Sergey”. From psychological research, we know that human beings will assign positive attributes to those with whom they identify. In other words, we like those who are like us.
