There is little to argue over in terms of Google's (NASDAQ:
GOOG
) business. The stock is trading near an all-time set earlier
this month. In just more than eight years as a public company,
the shares have surged almost 600 percent.
While the company does not pay a dividend -- perhaps the one
point of contention -- it was sitting on a
cash hoard of $49.3 billion at the end of the
second quarter
.
Google has done well for its investors. Still, no company is
perfect and even some of the most storied companies in corporate
America have their share of missteps. Remember when Coca-Cola
(NYSE:
KO
) stopped making Classic Coke for a little while? Yeah, that was
not a good idea and proved to be a memorable corporate gaffe.
Still, Google's foreign dominance is not a foregone
conclusion. The company's recent woes in Brazil illustrate as
much.
Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho was recently detained
by Brazilian authorities because the company arrogantly refused
to obey a Brazilian court ruling that ordered the company to
remove YouTube clips of the anti-Islam movie that triggered
deadly riots in the Middle East.
It might sound trite, but any U.S. company that opts to run
afoul of Brazilian regulators is asking for trouble. The case of
Chevron (NYSE:
CVX
) proves as much. When Brazilian prosecutors are looking for over
$10 billion in damages from Chevron and Transocean (NYSE:
RIG
) and looking to arrest employees of those companies for their
alleged roles in a relatively minor oil leak, the message is
clear: Brazil will not tolerate foreign companies operating there
doing things the way they see fit.
It is the Brazilian way or risk being thrown out. Google's
reluctance to pull the YouTube videos was brazen and risky.
Particularly when considering Brazil is Latin America's largest
economy and Internet usage there
has plenty of room to grow
. At the end of last year just four of 10 Brazilians were online.
That is a massive opportunity for Google and one it puts at risk
by assuming the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution applies
in Brazil.
Beyond Brazil
Brazil is not the only potential emerging markets trouble spot
for Google. The company's history borders on the sordid with
Chinese policymakers to the point that Baidu (NASDAQ:
BIDU
) is the Google of China and Google would be lucky to be deemed
China's Bing. Last week, Google shuttered its China music
service.
Additionally, the company has a possible map problem. Some
folks believe Apple's (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) controversial map program
is actually better in China than the Google
equivalent
.
The music service and the map application are not search
though, and the reality is Google is well behind Baidu (NASDAQ:
BIDU
) in the world's largest Internet market.
Then there is Russia. The country has the fifth-most Internet
users in the world, but less than half the
population is online
. Again, that is a big opportunity for any search company, and
again, Google faces competition from an established, native
rival.
Yandex (NASDAQ:
YNDX
) has yet to act like Google in terms of share performance, but
it is the most visited Web site in Russia. On a smaller scale in
Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic has its own version of Google
as well, though the U.S. company is fairly popular there.
Still Dominant
In its favor, Google is the dominant search engine in most
emerging markets. From Indonesia and Vietnam in Southeast Asia to
Chile, Colombia and Peru in South America, Google reigns supreme.
If it is not the most visited web site of any kind in many
developing nations, it is usually number two behind only Facebook
(NASDAQ:
FB
). (Its YouTube subsidiary is often found somewhere among the
five most-visited sites in dozens of developing markets.)
Yes, Google has a considerable search presence in the
developing world. It also has some issues to tend to in some of
the most important emerging markets, including Brazil, China and
Russia.
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.