Edward Zitron has been reading all of google’s internal emails that have been released as evidence in the DOJ’s antitrust case against google.

This is the story of how Google Search died, and the people responsible for killing it.

The story begins on February 5th 2019, when Ben Gomes, Google’s head of search, had a problem. Jerry Dischler, then the VP and General Manager of Ads at Google, and Shiv Venkataraman, then the VP of Engineering, Search and Ads on Google properties, had called a “code yellow” for search revenue due to, and I quote, “steady weakness in the daily numbers” and a likeliness that it would end the quarter significantly behind.

HackerNews thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40133976

MetaFilter thread: https://www.metafilter.com/203456/The-core-query-softness-continues-without-mitigation

  • ultratiem
    link
    fedilink
    4826 days ago

    But do you know who has? Sundar Pichai, who previously worked at McKinsey — arguably the most morally abhorrent company that has ever existed, having played roles both in the 2008 financial crisis (where it encouraged banks to load up on debt and flawed mortgage-backed securities) and the ongoing opioid crisis, where it effectively advised Purdue Pharma on how to “growth hack” sales of Oxycontin. McKinsey has paid nearly $1bn over several settlements due to its work with Purdue. I’m getting sidetracked, but one last point. McKinsey is actively anti-labor. When a company brings in a McKinsey consultant, they’re often there to advise on how to “cut costs,” which inevitably means layoffs and outsourcing. McKinsey is to the middle class what flesh-eating bacteria is to healthy tissue.

    Damn. That’s a third degree burn if I’ve ever seen one!

  • Track_Shovel
    link
    fedilink
    English
    4226 days ago

    This alone was worth the read. I’m not tech-inclined, really. I don’t read articles on tech, follow it, or know much about computer science. However, this article was really well written, and they paint a scathing picture of said ratfucker.

    • Em Adespoton
      link
      fedilink
      1826 days ago

      He sounds like a professional fall guy to me; who hired him? I bet THEY were the real ones to blame for what happened.

  • @millie@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1225 days ago

    I wonder if we’ll figure out how to stop the constant reaching for quarterly growth before it causes our civilization to collapse.