HN Explorer

Ask HN: What about a Google buy out of Amazon?

7 points by epynonymous ↗ HN
After the Motorola Mobility buy out, who's next? Amazon is rumored to be working on an android based kindle, has extensive cloud and web presence, has inroads into online music, books, groceries, etc. Do you think this is a good combination?

8 comments

[ 10.6 ms ] story [ 241 ms ] thread
byoung2
I'm not sure Google can afford Amazon, and even if they could, would the SEC allow it? I think regulatory problem areas would include letting a dominant force in online search also control much of the infrastructure of web hosting (AWS), or the clear leader in online advertising also be the biggest player that sells you merchandise, or the largest digitizer of books control both the sale and delivery of books.
priv_acy
Amazon has a $90B market cap. Google's is $173B. Google can't afford it without taking on LOTS of debt, which ain't going to happen (note that neither company currently has any significant debt).
byoung2
Do you think this is a good combination?

I think an acquisition of AWS by itself would be a strategic move for Google. I could see some interesting mashups of Google products and AWS. One that comes to mind is an S3-backed version of Google Docs, or using EC2 to do advanced analysis on data in Google Spreadsheets.

polyfractal
Not in my opinion.

Google is just continuing their moat/scorched earth strategy. Google's bread and butter is advertising, everything else is just a moat to protect that. Search, Chrome, Android - they all help Google's advertising bottom line. If Amazon built an Android-based Kindle, Google would be tickled pink.

Motorola Mobility was a strategic buy. Predominantly, patent protection against Apple and Microsoft. But secondarily it helps them secure a permanent Android vendor. Buying Amazon doesn't really further their goals or business model. Amazon is a distribution juggernaut that is orthogonal to Google in just about every way (except AWS)

runjake
I'm not sure your stance is accurate. Google does allow OEMs to use Android in ways I can't see where it clearly benefits Google's bottom line.

Seems there's been quite a few Android devices that have shipped with much of the Google services stripped out, and replaced with Bing/other vendor apps. This was going on at Verizon Wireless, at least for a while, and is again occurring with a recently announced Android tablet.

polyfractal
Ahh, I was not aware of that. I assumed OEMs built on top of Android (and google functionality), rather than ripping internals out.
runjake
It depends on what you define as "on top", but no, stuff like HTC's Sense and Motorola's BLUR make relatively low-level changes/replacements to what is generally considered Android. It's rather sad.
untog
Google already has an extremely sizable cloud and web presence, I doubt they'd be interested in buying AWS.

Fun fact: The Barnes and Noble Nook is Android-based. So Amazon would almost be behind the curve if they went for an Android-powered eReader.