Any new Google members/owners?

Just look at how it's affected the RE market. Stories of Khordestani aside, there really is a mini bubble being attributed to GOOG on certain segments (atherton - particularly lindenwood surprisingly), LA hills, etc.

Of course we all know that GOOG will come to pass. It must. Really. Hopefully soon.

--Dan

 

I remember wandering about en employee who left a company for Google. She joined up AFTER the crazy google IPO. What I forgot was that she was a single, attractive, and available female. She is laughing now (provided there was no pre-nup)

 

I told a friend that it was a bad idea to join Google when he showed me his kinko'd biz card... he was one of the first 10 employees... lesson learned? I'm a big idiot. I'm stoked for him!

 

I know where to park the next exotic I decide to sell. Perhaps one of them can take it off my hands on the way to lunch.

 

There is a secret code at GOOG called the "8FN" club or the eight figure net club. I know a couple of members that are in the process of buying art and the like. I don't know how many of them are into exotic cars but the corporate attitude at GOOG is to downplay the wealth card and buy a Prius. Pretty funny that the founders, Larry and Sergey, both own the Prius and then fly around in their Boeing 767 jet using more fuel in one trip than I will use in an entire lifetime in a Ferrari! Oh well, image truly is everything. One more interesting note, the toys suddenly somehow become quite meaningless when you can just use "walkin' around money" to pay for them.

 

I was not even in my Ferrari, but I was accosted by a Prius driving crazy from Berkeley while fueling my Maserati. She told me I was killing the environment and the children of the third world with my sports car...Mind you, this was completely unprovoked. I was going to tell her that I drive 3 miles to work and 3 miles back, and that her battery disposal will cause issues.....but I just told her that I agreed with her world view....and that I stole the Maserati. You should have seen her face!

 

My wife has worked for Google for over 3 years and I know loads of people there. She is not an 8FN member, but it did help us buy our first home and will provide a nice nest egg, college fund for kids, etc. She won't let me buy a Ferrari but a C6 Z51 was allowed.

Anyhow, lots of misconceptions here in this thread.

- First off, the whole buyback thing would have paid people pennies on the dollar for their options. I don't know of any takers.
- Google set up the system so all anyone pays in taxes is about 15% Fed and 5% state, so net for just about everyone is 80%.
- Most people who are millionaires likely are engineers who got in the first five years, got 10K+ options and had strike prices under a buck. There were a lot of them. Even folks in normal positions who've been there 4-6 years are prob cracking over a mill.

 

Shouldn't your screen name be ls2z51, then?

 

Ya, I had an 01 C5 before this, but just didn't feel like changing.

As for the tax stuff, I really don't know much about it. I don't work there so I don't pay that much attention to the details. All I know is what our financial planner/tax guy told us after he'd read all the garbage. We sold a little bit of stock last year, so it has affected our returns already. It's basically set up to avoid short-term capital gains is my understanding.

One thing I can tell you is that the parties used to be better. Right after she started working there, I went to a summer party, complete with Guinness on tap, ice sculptures everywhere, tons of amazing food, etc. It was crazy. Last year's Christmas party they had cheap beer (bad) and cheap wine (even worse). I was appalled. Must be a public company thing. The bean-counters got hold of the alcohol receipts.

It's kinda cool that all the billionaires just mingle with the rest of the poor people at these things. Last year Larry walked by (always wears a Santa hat) and said hello and I stood next to Sergei and his woman while they messed around on this fake surfboard contraption they had set up there (think "riding the bull" at a bar). They're just very typical programmer types who are exceedingly wealthy and powerful since this thing took hold. Very unassuming still.

It's a cool company, but I don't see my wife much on week days.