McNamee: Alphabet could unlock more value for Google
Google's name change and restructuring may give the company's stock a much-needed boost, Elevation Partner's Roger McNamee said on Monday.
"I don't think it's different in any way that matters until there are tracking stocks for the two pieces," he told CNBC's " Squawk Alley ." "Once the financial returns are directly tied to those two pieces, that unlocks an enormous amount of shareholder value."
Shares of Alphabet, the new umbrella company for Google, rose in their trading debut on Monday. Each share of the old Google is worth one share of Alphabet, the stock codes remain the same, and the number of shares outstanding is unchanged.
McNamee said the move may allow Google's management team the chance to do a better job with noncore projects, known as moonshots.
"I know for investors to get the full value, they've got to be able to see the two pieces separately," he said. "I think it will be a really good thing for the moonshots to have that market test in there because, among other things, it would free the more mature part of the business to be valued at what it's really worth and not be dragged down."
Monday was the fourth anniversary of Steve Jobs' death and came just a few days prior to the release of the biographical film "Steve Jobs."
The film has been subject to much controversy over portraying Jobs as excessively aggressive despite his success with Apple (AAPL). McNamee said he doesn't care about that issue.
"I really couldn't care less and the reason I couldn't is because Steve Jobs was one of the most important people in our economy, and frankly in our culture, in the last 100 years. And that's an indisputable thing, and nothing that Hollywood does is going to change that," he said.
Read More Producing 'Steve Jobs' was 'crucial': Danny Boyle
He added that perhaps one of the most profound insights of the last four years is that current CEO Tim Cook has been "amazing" for Apple.
"The wisdom of Jobs as having Tim Cook as his right-hand man and successor is one of those things that you look back on and think, 'Wow, nice call, man, that's really great,' '' he said.
McNamee said that the question of whether Jack Dorsey has enough time to serve full time at Twitter is not important. The real question, he said, is whether he can come up with one or two good ideas to take the company even further. Dorsey is also the CEO of payment company Square.
"The problem here is not building Twitter, it's taking Twitter and helping it mature into something that's as valuable to Twitter shareholders as it is to the people who use the stream," he said.
Read More Cramer: Why Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO is good news
He said that Dorsey should focus on making the product more accessible and on diversifying revenues away from advertising. "I believe there is a business opportunity that Dorsey can pursue, like Bloomberg, where they really package the tweet stream in ways that are very specifically marketed: marketers, regulators, investors. They give them lots more value added and people pay subscriptions for that."
— Reuters contributed to this report.
— McNamee does not own shares of Twitter.
More From CNBC
Top News and Analysis
Latest News Video
Personal Finance
