The sensational news is given by the Financial Times: Google is about to become a bank. Oh yes, this also happens in the global credit crisis: who can still be able to lend money if not the big IT giants? The first to think about it were those of Mountain View (which however could soon be followed by Apple, also in excellent liquidity and repeatedly tempted by this path), which from the top of their 43 billion dollar turnover in the second quarter , have devised a financing program for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Which then, coincidentally, are the same ones that feed Google through advertising. But as is known, in times of recession one of the first items to be cut is advertising, and therefore it is better to meet it. The system therefore provides for the issue of a real one credit card – produced in collaboration with Barclays – which companies can use to finance their AdWords campaigns. Advertising costs on the platform financed with loans at lower interest, on average, than the credit cards of other banks, as illustrated in the prospectus (PDF): less than 9% with a wide range, from 200 dollars up to a maximum of 200 thousand, in United States, and 11,9% in the United Kingdom.
The system has already been tested last year: the pilot experiments led to strong customer satisfaction, so Mountain View has decided to accelerate, and even if for now you can only access by invitation and it is not yet clear in which countries they will issued these credit cards, the feeling is that Sergey Brin and Larry Page want to get serious. On the other hand, the success of the operation is certain: offset the advertising crisis by providing low-interest loans, knowing that the destination of the money will ultimately be Google again. The company builds loyalty and the internet giant formally respects its motto “don't do evil”. Not surprisingly, even in the Financial Times they immediately pointed out that this initiative "does not serve to produce profits, nor to lose them".
Read the news on Financial Times
