Google co-founders wanted Steve Jobs as their first CEO

Emil

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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.

In 2001, Page and Brin ended up finding and picking Eric Schmidt as their CEO, who couldn't be more different than Jobs. Schmidt apparently attended Burning Man, a hippie art festival held in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. The duo liked this about Schmidt, according to the story.

This little tidbit of news comes soon after many criticisms of the current Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, leaving us wondering how the tech world would look like if Jobs was in his place. Although Apple and Google maintained a close working relationship by and large, the two companies are competing more viciously than ever in recent years, especially since Google introduced Android. Jobs reportedly felt betrayed by the announcement; Schmidt left Apple's board of directors in 2009.

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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.
 
puiu said:
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
 
fadownjoo said:
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

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
 
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.
 
Well, i can see if Jobs is the CEO of Google: No flash on youtube, no java sollution on their App Engine, and talking about open standards like crazy.
 
They both have different approach as well as different thinking. I will say whatever happened it happed for good. Steve jobs is more hardware ordinated guy who wants to control everything on their piece / software / hardware. A example of these is Avoiding Adobe, not allowing us to change iphone battery, not letting us to unlock iPhone so use only apple's app, chip etc etc. But i think Eric's thinking is totally different which made huge contribute in Google's success. By making lot of apps, Google lab's product free of cost. Think if Steve would have been google's CEO then you would have paying monthly fees for Gmail, fees on every search.

More ever I don't think Google or Apple would have been this much successful if they would have their CEO vice versa. I will says its all in good hands.
 
Google: "Mr. Jobs, we would like you to be our first CEO."

Steve: "Hahaha, ya.. right."

Google: *straight face*

Steve: "Oh.."
 
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