The Leadership Letter

Real correspondence from the people running real companies — and what it reveals about leadership.

When to Cut Price for Strategy, Not for Sales

A price cut with no strategic story is just margin you gave away for nothing.

I can be there. However in the Jedi++ meeting you are going to see data that lowering the sell-side revshare does not look like it is going to have tactical benefit. It doesn't win many queries compared to the profit lost, and sales does not think it will help them win deals. So if we still wanted to do it it would need to be for strategic reasons, belief that it would be better for our longer-term market position.

I went this route before, if we lower margin on the sell side we just need to acknowledge we can't recoup on DBM/AdX Buyers. I never claimed that this is a direct play of giving up margin to gain volume. This is more of competitive market situation with strategic play. As I thought about this more my desire to lower margin shrunk, but I still think a token reduction coupled with transparency and the launch of Exchange Bidding is a powerful combo. We should use the time to brainstorm and explain to Sridhar our current thinking and not just focus on margins.

This edition is for members.

The daily letter is free. The archive — every prior edition, fully searchable — is for members. Sign in to start your free week.

Court Exhibit
United States v. Google LLC (Ad Tech)
1:23-cv-00108 (VAED), Trial Ex. PTX0417 — DOJ public archive
November 10, 2016
Public domain
View the primary source →