More evidence that Google is still failing to monetise YouTube has emerged in the same week that the search giant was heard raiding the piggy banks of its Mountain View creators.
In a policy change bound to hearten even the frugal mid-credit crunch, the top brass at Google, which owns the video site, unveiled a sharp hike in day care rates for staff’s tots.
Grumbles from parents at Google reached the Times newspaper on Wednesday, which said a retreat by managers followed but not before they warned prices would still have to rise.
Then, and giving new meaning to Google’s ‘Cloud’, staff-management relations failed to clear up thanks to a message from Sergey Brin, which Google reportedly denies he ever said.
Nonetheless, word reached employees that their co-leader was quoted as saying he was tired of employees who felt entitled to perks “such as bottled water and M&Ms.”
Perhaps then the worker bees aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch at Google; a claim made more likely by its announcement that advertising revenue will be £101m, below expectations.
Yet there is plenty of cheer over at Google’s staff-run blog about ‘Lively’ – a new tool Google couldn’t sign its name to; if employees weren’t entitled to pet projects, their most famous perk.
