Valleywag
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great moments in journalism
Googler mom Esther Wojcicki's sideline job as Google publicist
What about the children? Palo Alto High School teacher Esther "Woj" Wojcicki took time away from educating future reporters to write about America's teens for the Huffington Post. In the piece, she promotes a nonprofit letter-writing project sponsored by Google and touts the use of Google Docs. No surprise there: Woj, whose daughter Anne is married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin and whose daughter Susan is a Google executive, has been promoting Google's pet causes from the first. But only now, after Valleywag has twice pointed out Woj's failure to disclose family conflicts of interest, has she started to include a disclaimer. Too bad it's deceptive. More »
10:40 AM on Thu Nov 6 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,574 views, 6 commentsMost discussed AntonioJenkins: aww, what's with valleywag commentors' obsession with making fun of people's appearance? there's a lot of great conversation on this more »
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wedding announcements
Kara Swisher discloses she married Google exec
A disclosure statement is an odd place for a wedding announcement. But that is where conference organizer and AllThingsD blogger Kara Swisher has buried the news that she married her longtime partner, Google vice president Megan Smith, last night, before the passage of Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, made same-sex marriages illegal once more. (The couple had had previous ceremonies — including, while we're disclosing things, one that I attended — but this was the first one that was a legal marriage under California law.) This would be no one's business but their own, except for the fact that Swisher actively covers Google and its rivals. More » -
esther wojcicki
Google founder's journalist mother-in-law writes blimp infomercial
Esther Wojcicki, known as "Woj" at Palo Alto High School, where she teaches journalism, is a beloved figure on campus. She's also quite welcome at the Googleplex, as the mother of Anne Wojcicki, who's married to Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and Google executive Susan Wojcicki. I wonder if proximity to power and wealth has dulled Woj's reportorial instincts. More » -
food fight
Google food manager charged with double-dealing
The brouhaha over Google's once-legendary, now troubled free-meals perk has bubbled up more charges of wrongdoing in the search engine's kitchens. An anonymous poster has taken to Craigslist to air charges against Google's former global food manager, John Dickman. (The post refers to him as "Dick," but it's obviously Dickman being discussed.) The Craigslist poster claims Dickman, left, who is married to Lisa McEuen, right, an executive at the parent company of food-service operator Bon Appétit, with leaking inside information which helped Bon Appétit win a contract to run Google's in-house meal service. More » -
George Church
23andMe advisor bidding for Google-backed prize with Google's help
Genetics researcher George Church is a great believer in openness, according to a profile of him in Wired. So he shouldn't mind a bit if we disclose some facts about his business dealings that we find fascinating. To wit: More » -
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23andme
Google cofounder funnels money to wife's startup through Michael J. Fox charity
Google employees must avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, according to the company's code of conduct. But Sergey Brin is exempt from such bureaucratic trifles. The cofounder skirted ethical lines when he loaned money to 23andMe, a genetic-testing startup cofounded by his wife, Anne Wojcicki, and later had Google repay that loan in the course of investing in that company. The Google board's audit committee and CEO Eric Schmidt blithely signed off on the deal, however. Now, Brin has found a new way to route money to 23andMe, this time through a charity — thereby boosting, at least notionally, the value of Google's investment and his wife's net worth. Brin can claim it's all for a good cause, but the deal stinks to high heaven. More »
11:20 AM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Owen Thomas
10,153 views, 23 commentsLatest by WagCurious: @drury: Wow, you people are wildly ignorant of federal tax law. Remind me to never let you prepare my tax more »
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conflicts of interest
Google's conflicted board
CEO Eric Schmidt's Apple board seat is only the beginning of Google's high-level conflicts of interests. Once Google's directors get done recusing themselves, there might not be anyone left in the boardroom. [Portfolio] -
conflicts of interest
Eric Schmidt admits he was kicked out of Apple boardroom over iPhone-Android rivalry
Keep your friends close, and your enemies on your board of directors. That seems to be the rationale for Google CEO Eric Schmidt's continued presence in Apple's boardroom. Despite a promised rain of would-be iPhone killers powered by Google's Android operating system coming later this year, Schmidt said he's only had to excuse himself from board meetings "once or twice." (Photo by Steve Jurvetson) -
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ftc
Google's Aspen junkets for FTC commissioners just the start of its lobbying spree
In 2007, Google spent $1.5 million lobbying Washington, D.C politicians and regulators. According to public filings, much of that cash went toward getting the Google-DoubleClick merger approved. Google says the rest went toward patent and copyright reform, online privacy, energy independence, getting funding for scientific research and education, increasing the H-1B visa quota and making the case for net neutrality. (Net neutrality is the belief that Google, not telephone companies, should dictate what's carried on broadband lines.) It's unclear whether the $1.5 million sum includes the money a Google-backed foundation spent hosting a 2007 Aspen Summit conference held at the St. Regis Resort in Colorado. FTC commissioner William E. Kovacic attended and he later voted to approve Google's merger. So did fellow commisioners Jon Leibowitz and Deborah Platt Majoras, who attended a similar conference in 2006.
