Google co-founders wanted Steve Jobs as their first CEO

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin both wanted current Apple CEO Steve Jobs as the company's first CEO, according to a new 48-minute documentary posted on Bloomberg's Game Changers. The report tells viewers that the pair interviewed 12 or 13 candidates, but none of them made the cut. The duo then made the trip to visit Steve Jobs (he was a personal hero of theirs). After the meeting, they asked investor John Doerr whether they could hire him. Jobs had other plans.

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That would have been a killer combination, although Jobs is more more of a hardware-oriented kind of guy.
But maybe in a parallel Universe Jobs runs Google and Schmidt runs Apple...

if Steve Jobs were the CEO we would all have to pay an arm and a leg just to use Google search. Not to mention they would axe out java, adobe, and hell why not macromedia on their browser... ffs

This shakes my entire picture of Google. It'd be difficult to imagine an Google with Jobs at the helm. I'm not for closed systems, and Apple has become THE leader in locking their stuff down.

Looking back he's changed a bit. I'm not sure if its the 3rd world liver he's got in him or what, but most people become more positive after such an experience, not more evil.

I would also leave Steve Jobs for Google anytime.
And if you compare apple with google it would be like comparing a turtle and a fox; one safe behind it's homemade shield - you can only complain about it's restrictions; the other cunning and fast - you don't know if the free apple they are giving you has poison or not.

Wow. Well said. I have a healthy distrust for both, and a strong disliking for Apple. It's scary how both of them have made me look at Microsoft as being a kindhearted company. Microsoft's goal is to make more money. Google and Apple have more sinister plans...

hah... Apple missed out on Halo AND Google, talk about saying "thanks but no thanks" only to totally regret it later.

And in an earlier meeting, it was revealed that both the Google guys said "yeah we want an arrogant jerk off who likes to dish the crap back to customers. That way, when we fudge something up bad (and we plan to), then he can easily defend us while we continue to look the other way but still make profits."

In all seriousness though, Google and Jobs seem quite opposite. Open source vs. closed source. What could go wrong???

Jobs heading Google would definitely be a very different world than we have now. Most of Google's services would probably require a subscription or a purchase to use, all Google's support for open-source projects would be non-existent as Jobs made his push for closed-source, Google-controlled formats, and the 20% of Google employee time devoted to pursuing personal projects and R&D would almost certainly be focussed on increasing profits through more traditional means.

Steve Jobs' Google would likely be significantly more hardware focussed, more profit-oriented, and less friendly to the common consumer.

Personally, I'm glad Jobs doesn't control Google.

To be honest i doubt Android would be as good if Apple didnt bring out the iPhone, its the smartphone measuring stick.

wouldnt work out, jobs would use google and try to take over the world....but then again, iphones would be open source and have flash...hmm

I bet Google would have moved into the hardware market a lot sooner, instead of focusing on its core advertising structure. And maybe everyone would be carrying around Google phones instead

or google phones would be closed source and wouldnt have flash?

google would have just been that much closer to world domination, instead they have just one more competitor in their way

Jobs is a competant CEO, however I doubt Google would be nearly as successful as they are now had he actually accepted the job.

Wanting Steve Jobs as your CEO is not the same thing as actually getting Steve Jobs as your CEO.

Can you imagine an Apple Jobsian-based Google Search? All web search results would take you to iTunes. All image searches would return kittens. Google Earth would only show 1 Infinite Loop.

nothing says keep your enemies closer like this. i get you google, you want to keep jobs at bay so apple would run around like a chicken w/ its head cut off, very clever

I could only imagine the horrors associated with google with steve jobs at the head

Companies just tend to become opposite of what they are predicted just look at apple how it started its PC's & now how they are.Probably Eric Schmidt was the man to take google & not jobs.Just look at their styles both seem to be perfectly matched to their respective companies.

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