The US Department of Justice has "finally released what Judge Amit Mehta described in the Google Search trial as an 'embarrassing' exhibit that Google tried to hide from the public", he says Ars Technica:
The document in question contains notes from a speech given by Google's vice president of finance, Michael Roszak. "Created for a communication course," it said Bloomberg.
In his notes, Roszak wrote that Google Search "is one of the world's greatest business models ever created" with financial data which only certain “illegal businesses” who sell “cigarettes or drugs” “could compete”.
I should mention that in the comparison with cigarettes and drugs, Mr. Roszak adds another dimension to the law of supply and demand, that of addiction.
At trial, Roszak told the court that he did not remember if he ever made the presentation. He said the course required him to tell students "things I don't believe". He also claimed the notes were "full of exaggeration" and did not reflect his true beliefs, "because there was no business purpose to it".
According to Bloomberg, Google has repeatedly objected to sharing the document with the court, arguing that it was irrelevant to the Justice Department's case. Then, after Mehta allowed the DOJ to introduce the document into evidence, Google tried to seal Roszak's testimony in the document…
Beyond likening Google Search to illegal drug purchases, Roszak's notes also said that because users are hooked on Google's search engine, Google can "mainly ignore the demand side" of the "fundamental laws of economics" and “to focus only on the offer on the part of advertisers.”
"We could essentially tear up the economics book," Roszak notes.
A Google spokesperson told Bloomberg that Roszak's statements "do not reflect the opinion of the company" and were "written for a lecture in which the instructions were to say something exaggerated and get attention." The company spokesman also said Roszak "did not believe the statements were true."