SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook Inc. may be racing against Google Inc. to connect the world to the Internet, but chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg says the companies could work together more.
While each is spearheading separate initiatives—Facebook’s Internet.org is dispatching drones and satellites to spread Internet access and Google’s Project Loon is sending balloons to the edge of space for the same purpose—they are in constant contact, Zuckerberg said in an interview. “Connecting everyone is going to be something that no single company can do by themselves.”
“People need to be able to search and find information. I think that is an important thing, and I’d love to work with Google.” Both companies have championed the cause. Zuckerberg has told his board and investors that he intends to spend billions on the project without hope of returns for a long time.
He’s acquired companies and hired scientists to create the technology to spread Internet access cheaply and widely. Eventually, the project will help both companies’ bottom lines by adding more potential users of their sites.
