October 24th, 2007
Google execs on MySpace, Facebook deals
During the Google Analyst Day, Tim Armstrong, president of commerce and advertising for North America, was asked how the MySpace ad deal was going and whether he could share any information about a relationship with Facebook (at this time there are some reports that Microsoft has won the deal to serve ads for Facebook outside the U.S. and to make a minority investment in the social networking upstart).
“Overall, I won’t comment on specific monetization but both companies are working together to make sure the deal is successful.
Omid Kordestani, senior vice president of global sales and business development added that Google takes some risks on the monetization side, but he is confident the deal is on the right trajectory, although a lot of work and experimentation by both parties is ahead.
Armstrong wouldn’t comment on any interactions with Facebook. “We have tremendous respect for them and we have a tremendous amount of social networking across the Web. I’ll leave it a that.”
Kordestani weighed in a well. “In terms of new partnerships, related to Facebook we are pretty confident that we have the best monetization [of ads] globally,” he said. Google can best competitors on revenue sharing and on the economics surrounding ad deals, but partners have to consider strategic issues as well, he added.
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
