The point many of you are probably missing here is that this is not a proof of concept but a work of net/digital art, exhibited many times in the past (even at transmediale 2008) but fixed in a defined moment in time (~2006).<p>I've been a student of one of the authors (Alessandro Ludovico) in 2008, at the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara (Italy).
"Current Google Share Price :
495.01 USD"<p>This hasn't been updated since GOOG was a bit more than a third of what it is now.<p>But if they actually own 819 shares that is almost a million dollars of stock right now.<p>Edit: <a href="http://gwei.org/pages/google/legalletter1.html" rel="nofollow">http://gwei.org/pages/google/legalletter1.html</a>
This reminds me of stock buy-back programs.<p>The company, using company revenues, to buy the company.<p>Although now I understand them, when I first heard of them I immediately thought it would lead to a stack overflow...
Appears this was created as an art/media installation by Ubermorgen in 2005 [1] that ran for a few years. Some believe it was a hoax [2], although it may have just been a brief but curious experiment.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubermorgen#Life_and_career" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubermorgen#Life_and_career</a><p>[2] <a href="http://linearfix.tumblr.com/post/21838753641/is-google-will-eat-itself-a-hoax" rel="nofollow">http://linearfix.tumblr.com/post/21838753641/is-google-will-...</a>
Nonsense by people who don't understand free market economics and therefore choose to ridicule it.<p>Calling themselves artists (as another pointed out) shields them from the criticism they would receive if they clearly stated their point of view.
For every impression/click payout that the clandestine "GTTP" network garners, Google the company will also have earned some profits off advertisers which'll be transferred to Google's bank account or used to build more infrastructure.<p>However, suppose GTTP compromise a significant or even 100% of GOOG's total ad payout; there are three possible scenarios:<p>a) if Adwords is operating at a loss (a la PS3, unlikely), the shares of GTTP will decrease massively, thereby depressing the shares of GOOG. However if GOOG wants to facilitate the transfer of the company of GTTP, it'd continue to operate at extreme loss by transferring more money to GTTP via Adwords loss until the shares goes down minimally $0.001 on OTC market (a la LEH). Then GTTP can acquire a worthless asset.<p>b) Adwords is generating a net profit more than the payout to GTTP. Net profit not in terms of net income but in the sense that the profit/intangible valuation of Google's use of revenue from GTTP's generated ads to build out infrastructure and human resources. GTTP's activity will then boost the shares of GOOG, given that GTTP generate a fixed amount of money for GOOG; using discount cashflow model, that means whatever GTTP's income cannot outpace the GTTP-GOOG Adwords unit's constantly rising valuation. (Think of this using a shareholder's dividend to cannibalize the company; or using a child's allowance to buy his/her parent).<p>c) Adwords is generating a net profit but less than the payout to GTTP. Basically a company distributing the bulk of its net profit to shareholders as dividend than using it to reinvest in R&D/infrastructure. In practice, GTTP's internal shareholders would likely revolt given GOOG's business model of growth (vs. say sleepier industries such as utility). But let's suppose say for the sake of the argument, that GTTP shareholders are agreement to cannibalize GOOG, they can do it! Given that the accumulated annual income generated by GTTP outpaces the market valuation of GOOG. (Think of WhatsApp founders cash out of 16B of FB stock or Mark Cuban with Broadcast.com at the height of YHOO's valuation, and the valuation of GOOG or FB decrease enough and/or they kept siphoning income to buy the company at a later time.)
This is a pretty genius idea. Use Google to buy Google stock. With the current share price, buying shares isn't exactly cheap. But collecting cash from their service is an effective way to reap the benefits of corporate growth in another way.<p>Similarly: buying Tesla (TSLA) stock when it was cheap because you couldn't afford the Model S....and now you can afford it.<p>That being said, it would seem that there would need to be a rather large network of sites and AdSense links to earn enough money to buy a share. Reminds me of the cost-benefit ratio of mining bitcoin.
This is quite old and has been defunct for years now. It is a collaboration between Ubermorgen and Paolo Cirio & Alessandro Ludovico<p>For Ubermorgen it was part of a trilogy[1] of art/hacks displayed in art galleries with amazon noir [2] and the sound of ebay [3].<p>For Paolo Cirio & Alessandro Ludovico it was part of The Hacking Monopolism Trilogy[4] with the same amazon noir and face to facebook[4] stealing a million facebook accounts and auto-populating a dating website with them [5]. They have more info and pics about gwei [6].<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.ubermorgen.com/EKMRZ_Trilogy/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ubermorgen.com/EKMRZ_Trilogy/</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://www.amazon-noir.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon-noir.com/</a><p>[3]: <a href="http://www.sound-of-ebay.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sound-of-ebay.com/</a><p>[4]: <a href="http://www.face-to-facebook.net/hacking-monopolism-trilogy.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.face-to-facebook.net/hacking-monopolism-trilogy.p...</a><p>[5]: <a href="http://www.face-to-facebook.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.face-to-facebook.net/</a><p>[6]: <a href="http://www.face-to-facebook.net/gwei.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.face-to-facebook.net/gwei.php</a>
Given how long it's been since this was last updated, I wonder if they're still having any success. It seems Google are probably getting better at fraud handling quicker than they can innovate their fraud - and close to 10 years seems like Google would have a huge advantage by now.
This is actually a pretty genius idea, but as pointed out by others this site looks old (evident by the design and inaccurate stock price). I also think the way Google shares work is that you can never truly own a meaningful share of Google via public shares.
I don't get it. They're paying for the servers for their websites and the content on the websites. They could just as easily keep the money from the ads. So essentially they're just buying the shares out of pocket.
Theoretically, isn't it the case that the more successful they are in generating clicks, the more successful Google becomes, pushing the share piece higher and further out of their reach?
Google Will Eat Itself is part of a trilogy:
<a href="http://paolocirio.net/work/hacking-monopolism-trilogy/hacking-monopolism-trilogy.php" rel="nofollow">http://paolocirio.net/work/hacking-monopolism-trilogy/hackin...</a><p>Those guys hacked also Amazon and Facebook, actually there is much more behind that. Those Italians are crazy and geniuses.
Google Will Eat Self is part of a trilogy:
<a href="http://paolocirio.net/work/hacking-monopolism-trilogy/hacking-monopolism-trilogy.php" rel="nofollow">http://paolocirio.net/work/hacking-monopolism-trilogy/hackin...</a><p>Those guys hacked also Amazon and Facebook, actually there is much more behind that. Those Italians are crazy and geniuses.
They missed one important point though, hidden network of websites needs to run on servers, and servers cost money. more traffic means scaling and even higher costs.
A public-traded company is not the same as a public company. Larry Page and Sergey Brin can still hold all of their stocks and stay at the control of Google.
"We deconstruct the new global advertisment mechanisms"<p>The ad supported model isn't ideal, but if these guys have a better idea I'm all ears.
has anyone around this project realized that every time you click google adds google is getting money for it as well? and obviously their revenue is 80% while they give you 20% for each click... with that said, no sir google won't eat itself your just making google richer.
I was listening to this song while reading the page, goes good with the flashing background: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBb8e7G4dBk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBb8e7G4dBk</a>