These two reasons may sound like very minor issues, but for the reporters present, who were all seasoned internet users, they understood very well that when a search engine had these two drawbacks.
If there wasn't a superior search engine, it could be passable. But if there was, then they were sorry, they would switch.
"Yahoo Search is gone!" most of the reporters lamented in their hearts. They suddenly realized that Yahoo Search hadn't just filled Yahoo's last gap, but had created a huge opening in Yahoo. At the same time, the rise of Google Search was inevitable, and it would capture the entire search market.
Yahoo, valued at 150 billion, was likely to reach a miraculous end with the announcement of this press conference.
Just as this thought crossed the reporters' minds, Larry Page continued to explain, "After a month of development, Google's portal website, Google Direct, now holds a 58% market share of portal websites!"
"What!" All the reporters present were stunned upon hearing this news, staring at Larry Page like puppets. Larry Page smiled slightly; this was the effect he wanted, the result he had been waiting for.
Larry Page went on to explain that after leaving Yahoo, Google had independently launched its own portal website, and now this portal website already held over 58% of the market share, which was more than Yahoo's market share.
"That's impossible! We use Google every day, how come we don't know Google has its own portal website?" a reporter exclaimed.
Many reporters nodded in agreement. They were all daily users of Google and truly didn't know that Google had launched its own portal website.
"That's because our portal website is different from Yahoo's. They cram countless websites in front of you. These websites are only distributed in small numbers on the homepage of Google Search."
"But even so, the traffic directed to various websites through these links has reached 58% of the total traffic!" Larry Page said proudly.
Hearing Larry Page's words, the reporters couldn't help but shift their gaze to the homepage of Google Search.
Although Google Search still looked the same, with a large search box in the center for entering keywords, in reality, below this large search box, there were dozens of links. These links were the names of various categorized websites, such as News, Sports, Computers, Forums, etc. Clicking on these names would directly lead to a sub-page for the current category, which contained hundreds of different websites that could be clicked to access.
In addition, in the upper left corner of the search bar, there were three fixed website links: Google Picks, Weibo, and oo Game Center.
It's worth noting that these three links were floating windows. No matter how the page changed, these three links remained in the upper left corner.
These three websites were fixed and would always be in the upper left corner links.
In the upper right corner, there was a plus sign. Clicking the plus sign would bring up the names of 20 recently searched websites. Users could click on these website names, and the website would be directly pinned to the upper left corner of Google Search, similar to a bookmark, allowing direct access.
The reporters were actually very familiar with these functions, as they used them frequently in their daily lives. However, they had never considered these functions to be portal website features, only auxiliary functions of Google Search.
Upon being reminded by Larry Page, they suddenly realized that yes, these were indeed portal website functions. Especially if you clicked on the Google Picks link, you would enter a web page with a layout almost identical to Yahoo's homepage, which was a familiar standard portal website.
"Everyone, you can check your internet browsing history for the past 10 days and see if you used Google more as a platform to find and access other websites, or Yahoo to access other websites!" Larry Page asked the reporters. However, the answer to this question was obvious. They only needed to recall their own internet habits to understand that they hadn't specifically logged into Yahoo's portal website for a long time.
"Mr. Page, you just said that Google's portal website has only been online for a month. How did Google manage to capture 58% of the portal website market in just one month?" a reporter couldn't help but ask curiously.
"That's a very good question!" Larry Page smiled. "Actually, when I first saw this data, I was also shocked because I thought Google Picks would only occupy less than 30% of the market. After all, Yahoo is a big company and has been the industry leader for seven or eight years. I never thought it would be overthrown in just one month!"
"But that's how it is. This is the statistical result from the most professional data research companies, and we can't find any errors."
"So I started to ponder the mystery behind it. Finally, after investigating the usage habits of thousands of users, I found the reason!" Larry Page teased the reporters' curiosity before smilingly saying, "The reason is 'laziness'!"
"'Laziness'?" The reporters mused. Larry Page continued, "We found that users always want to access the websites they want as quickly as possible and will try to omit intermediate steps."
"And the fastest way is to directly use a search engine to search. So, the first thing most users do after opening their browser is to go to the Google Search page."
"But when these users find that the search engine can't find the websites they want, they have to go through a portal website to find the content they're looking for."
"So, when they are ready to use a portal website, would they rather type Yahoo's website address into Google's search bar, or directly click on a portal website on Google's page to enter?"
"..." Everyone was shocked by Larry Page's explanation, but then they thought about it, and realized that this was the simplest mindset when using the internet.
"Through our further investigation and research, we found that when users browse the internet, they form a subconscious concept of a preferred default website. That is, they will first confirm a website as their first login site after opening their browser, and then access other websites through this site!"
"Initially, this preferred default website belonged to Yahoo."
"But now, with the emergence of a more powerful and precisely targeted search engine, Google has become the preferred default website for the vast majority of netizens worldwide. They will place Google's bookmarks at the top of their favorites, and click directly to enter the Google homepage after opening their browser."
"Therefore, Google has undoubtedly become the largest entry point for network traffic in America. 79% of users enter Google first before entering the world of the internet. This is the market position that Google currently holds!" Larry Page said calmly.
"The traffic entry point has shifted from Yahoo to Google?" The reporters savored this result and understood that a major earthquake in the internet market was likely imminent.
Suddenly, a reporter stepped back a few paces, lost his balance, and stumbled to the ground, alarming the security personnel who quickly helped him up.
"What's wrong with him?" Larry Page asked somewhat nervously. Was this a plant sent by Yahoo to disrupt his press conference?
"All his savings were invested in Yahoo stock!" a companion next to him said indifferently. "He bought it yesterday when Yahoo's total market value dropped to 142 billion, thinking it was an opportunity!"
Upon hearing this, everyone understood why the reporter had fainted. They all cast sympathetic glances at him.
"There is still one hour until the afternoon opening..." Larry Page on stage said faintly. The reporter, who was lying weakly in his friend's arms, immediately jumped up, bowed deeply to Larry Page, and then ran out of the conference room frantically. While doing so, he took out his phone and yelled, likely instructing his trader to sell all his Yahoo stock immediately.
After this farcical incident concluded, Larry Page continued reading his prospectus.
Everyone had assumed that the market share issue was the biggest bombshell, the most significant news in the prospectus. Little did they know there was even more weighty news.
That was that Google, in conjunction with American Priority Group and Jiangnan Group, had jointly established an advertising alliance company called "Tesla."
This advertising company would consolidate all the advertising resources of the aforementioned companies and form a jointly sold advertising alliance.
The product was essentially similar to Yahoo's advertising alliance; it was the same concept. Companies with advertising needs could only place various promotional advertisements on the websites under the aforementioned companies through this Tesla advertising alliance.
Google held a 40% stake in this company, American Priority held 30%, and Jiangnan Group held 30%. The company also welcomed other websites to join the advertising alliance, allowing them to benefit from ad placements.
"This is to completely cut off Yahoo's revenue stream!" the reporters exclaimed. They suddenly doubted whether Yahoo could even maintain its total market value of 140 billion after today.