Google Scoops BCE

Google (GOOG) finally got around to hiring a new CFO. They scooped BCE (BCE) Canada’s largest telco and hired Patrick Pichette. BCE is just in the final throes of going private and the Google thing sounded better. Cannot say I blame the guy.
Everyone has been focused on the Google, Yahoo Microsoft triangle. Then Google brings in a Telco guy. If they had brought in an American there would have been suspicions. But the Canadian knows enough about the industry and is not in anyone else’s camp.

BCE trades on NYSE so Patrick Pichette will have the governance issues figured out. Telco accounting deals with a lot of small charges happening very often. Look at your phone bills and calculate the minutes. Google’s income statement is based on millions of click transactions. The accounting infrastructure is almost identical.

Google has a big front end. The brand is huge. Everyone gravitates to Google. So where is the next big strategic thing? What if you could control the backbone? Telco’s control much of the backbone. So hire a Telco guy to be CFO and run the strategy of taking over the backbone or Telco’s or whatever you want to call it.