INTUIT vs GOOGLE: A Comparison of Two Tech Giants.

Table of Contents
– Introduction
– Company Overviews
– Intuit
– Google
– Products and Services
– Intuit Offerings
– TurboTax
– QuickBooks
– Mint
– Google Offerings
– Search
– Android
– Gmail
– Financial Performance
– Revenue
– Profits
– Market Cap
– Company Culture
– Innovation
– Conclusion

Introduction

Intuit and Google are two of the most influential technology companies in the world today. Both operate globally and have broad product portfolios, but each has its own distinct identity and strengths.

In this article, we will compare Intuit and Google across several key dimensions: company overview, products and services, financial performance, company culture, and innovation. The goal is to understand how these two tech giants differ in their business models, financials, values, and impact on the world.

Company Overviews

Intuit

Intuit is a global financial software company focused on serving consumers, small businesses, and accounting professionals. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Intuit was founded in 1983 and employs approximately 9,000 people worldwide.

Some key facts about Intuit:

– Founded in 1983 by Scott Cook and Tom Proulx
– Based in Mountain View, CA
– Employs around 9,000 globally
– Generated $9.2 billion in revenue in FY2020
– Leader in tax preparation, small business accounting, and personal finance software

Intuit’s mission is to power prosperity around the world with a focus on customers, employees, and communities. It aims to transform the financial lives of consumers and small businesses through its innovative products and platforms.

Google

Google is a multinational technology company focusing on search, software, and online advertising technologies. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Google was founded in 1998 and now employs over 135,000 people globally.

Some key facts about Google:

– Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin
– Based in Mountain View, CA
– Employs over 135,000 globally
– Generated $182.5 billion in revenue in 2020
– Leader in online search, advertising, cloud computing, and consumer electronics

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. It aims to develop products that improve people’s lives and create economic opportunity for everyone.

Products and Services

Intuit and Google both have diverse product portfolios. Let’s compare the core products and services they offer.

Intuit Offerings

TurboTax  – The No1 best-selling tax preparation software in the U.S. for individuals to file federal and state tax returns.

QuickBooks  – The leading accounting software for small businesses to manage finances, get paid faster, and track expenses.

Mint  – A free personal finance app to help manage budgets, track spending, and more.

Google Offerings

Search – Google’s core offering and most popular product. The Google search engine processes over 3.5 billion searches per day.

Android – The world’s most widely used mobile operating system, running on over 75% of smartphones globally.

Gmail – Google’s free email service with over 1.5 billion active users worldwide.

While there is some overlap in financial software, Intuit’s focus remains on accounting, tax, and personal finance solutions for consumers and small businesses. Google is broader, providing search, mobile OS, email, cloud, maps and countless other consumer and enterprise products.

Financial Performance

Let’s compare Intuit and Google’s financial performance on key metrics like revenue, profits, and market capitalization.

Revenue

In fiscal year 2020, Intuit generated $9.2 billion in global revenue. Google’s parent company Alphabet made over 20X this amount, with total 2020 revenue of $182.5 billion. So Google dwarfs Intuit significantly in terms of overall revenue.

However, it’s worth noting Intuit’s revenues still represent substantial scale – the company has $9+ billion in annual sales and grew revenues 13% year-over-year in 2020. Intuit is not a small business by any means.

Profits

In terms of bottom line profits, Intuit reported $2.2 billion in net income for fiscal year 2020. Google made over 6X more with net income of $13.6 billion in 2020.

Both companies have strong profit margins. Intuit’s net margin is 23% while Google’s is around 7%. So while Google makes much more money overall, Intuit generates higher profit as a percentage of revenue.

Market Cap

As of November 2022, Intuit’s market capitalization is approximately $140 billion compared to Google’s parent company Alphabet at over $1 trillion dollars. So Google is worth nearly 10X as much as Intuit, reflecting the vast scale and reach of Google’s global business.

However,  Intuit is still one of the 100 most valuable public companies in the world, reflecting its leadership in financial software and loyal customer base. But it does not have the immense market power of Google and its parent entity Alphabet.

Company Culture

Intuit and Google also differ significantly in their company cultures and values.

It cultivates a customer-focused culture centered around concepts like teamwork, integrity, and excellence. There is a strong focus on developing personal skills and maintaining work/life balance. Intuit has been recognized as one of the “best places to work” by Glassdoor and other organizations.

In contrast, Google is known for benefits like free meals, on-site services, and creative office designs that support collaboration and innovation. The company is data-driven and engineers have significant influence over decision making. Google aims to maintain a flat organization and empowers employees through transparency and autonomous working.

While both companies are considered top employers, Intuit favors a more balanced lifestyle whereas Google has a more intense, competitive environment even as it provides abundant perks and compensation.

Innovation

Both Intuit and Google leverage technology and human-centered design to drive innovation, but they focus on different areas.

Intuit develops breakthrough solutions for financial software aimed at consumers and small businesses. For example, QuickBooks Live blends human expertise with AI to provide real-time bookkeeping assistance to customers. The QuickBooks Assistant uses chatbots to answer common small business questions.

Google innovates across far more segments from search to smartphone software to quantum computing. Some prominent innovations include autonomous vehicles like Waymo, Google Brain artificial intelligence research, and new hardware like Pixel smartphones.

Intuit innovates within a clear category of financial empowerment, while Google has a much wider scope. Both leverage AI and other emerging technologies combined with design thinking to create better human experiences.

1.   Conclusion

In summary, Intuit and Google represent two of the technology sector’s greatest success stories. Both companies are influential, multi-billion dollar operations with loyal customers around the world.

However, there are significant differences across products, financials, culture, and innovation focus. Google is the clear leader in scale and resources, while Intuit maintains impressive financial discipline and domain expertise in accounting and tax software. Both companies also rank among the world’s most admired employers.

Looking forward, Google is likely to continue dominating the consumer tech landscape, while Intuit focuses on digitally transforming small business finance and individual tax preparation. Both approaches have advantages, and these two respected leaders will remain major forces in the tech sector for decades to come.