Google CEO says acquisition prices are still too high

Posted Mar 9th 2009 9:15AM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Deals, Google (GOOG)

Rumors of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) interest in acquiring Twitter have been circulating for months, but the company's CEO says it probably won't happen anytime.

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Eric Schmidt said: "I shouldn't talk about specific acquisitions. We're unlikely to buy anything in the short term, partly because I think prices are still high. And it's unfortunate I think we're in the middle of a cycle. Google is generating a lot of cash. And so we keep that cash in extremely secure banks."

That seems like a pretty bad open for tech and internet stocks. Its stock price has tanked, but Google continues to generate enormous amounts of cash and would seem to be well-positioned to take advantage of a weak stock market and dormant venture capital industry. But the company is sitting on its hands and its company apparently believes that prices will head lower.

DealBook quotes Mr. Schmidt as having called the acquisitions of YouTube and DoubleClick "phenomenally successful," a phrase that could not be used to described many other acquisitions of the past few years. Google's willingness to stand pat on the acquisitions front would seem to indicate that the company is confident in its current business, which is a good sign for investors.

Tags: GOOG, Google, intheenws, schmidt, Twitter