Yesterday’s election was a pretty straightforward process – no riots, no recounts, not even the threat of a lawsuit. So, as if to make up for it, a couple of questionable reports plagued the search industry today, and we’ll try to straighten out the situation here.
First, CNBC announced that Google had stopped hiring people. Since the search giant is known for adding all sorts of employees, a reversal of this sort would have been scary, creating questions about stability in both the search and advertising markets. On a day that the Dow and Nasdaq both dropped by a little more than 5.0 percent, of course.
But Stephen Shankland states that Jane Penner, a Google spokesperson, told him, “We extended offers last week to 30 people. We’re hiring at a slower rate. We are continuing to hire carefully and strategically.” Which is pretty much in line with what was announced during Google’s third quarter conference call.
Then, there was the matter of Jerry Yang allegedly agreeing to quit Yahoo. Some traders were sent this tale in the form of what was supposed to be an internal memo. The rumor sent Yahoo’s stock up by as much as 11.2 percent, which says something about the CEO’s popularity.
A number of Yahoo employees have denied the rumor, though, and the stock rise also likely says something about the tale’s origins, since at least a few folks must have made some money.
