Robert Crozier, Forbes V.P. and Managing Director of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, hosted a dinner in London on Saturday night. In attendance were Jonathan Newhouse of Conde Nast International and Nikesh Arora of Google. Nikesh is an old friend of mine. He was a graduate student at Northeastern University in the early 1990s when I was on the faculty. Today, Nikesh is serving as Google's V.P. of European Operations. He is also one of the smartest people I know. From what I understand, Google is full of people like Nikesh. Getting a job at Google is tougher than getting into a top university. The candidate must survive six rigorous interviews. Yet Google is hiring like crazy because it is growing so rapidly.
Nonetheless, I still believe the stock is overpriced. If you buy it today, you may end up happy five or ten years from now, but I think the stock is likely to go lower before it goes higher. If you really love this company, buy the stock only on weakness.
