garyp
09-04-2004, 12:54 AM
Behind the Google IPO: How secrecy, greed almost ruined the year's hottest deal
Marketwatch.com
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B871FC432%2DBDBE%2D4A28%2D9E09%2D 02862AA4242A%7D&siteid=mktw&
This article (almost 3500 words, reported by several members of the Marketwatch team) is a look at the final days before the IPO.
We believe a well functioning society should have abundant, free and unbiased access to high quality information," they proclaimed in the "Owner's Manual" they included in Google's prospectus, modeled on shareholder missives penned by investing legend Warren Buffett. "Google therefore has a responsibility to the world."
But that openness stopped with the IPO.
On the Playboy article:
On July 23, David Sheff, author of the Playboy article on Google, e-mailed Google's publicist and told her that the story would appear in the September issue, due to hit newsstands on Aug. 15. Google never asked Playboy to push back the timing of the article, Randall said.
Back in April, Google never outlined any guidelines or out-of-bounds questions before the interview, he added.
Bad news for Google, good news for Playboy: Randall said the Google interview received more media attention than any other story in the magazine's history, barring earlier articles on Jesse Ventura and Jimmy Carter.
Marketwatch.com
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B871FC432%2DBDBE%2D4A28%2D9E09%2D 02862AA4242A%7D&siteid=mktw&
This article (almost 3500 words, reported by several members of the Marketwatch team) is a look at the final days before the IPO.
We believe a well functioning society should have abundant, free and unbiased access to high quality information," they proclaimed in the "Owner's Manual" they included in Google's prospectus, modeled on shareholder missives penned by investing legend Warren Buffett. "Google therefore has a responsibility to the world."
But that openness stopped with the IPO.
On the Playboy article:
On July 23, David Sheff, author of the Playboy article on Google, e-mailed Google's publicist and told her that the story would appear in the September issue, due to hit newsstands on Aug. 15. Google never asked Playboy to push back the timing of the article, Randall said.
Back in April, Google never outlined any guidelines or out-of-bounds questions before the interview, he added.
Bad news for Google, good news for Playboy: Randall said the Google interview received more media attention than any other story in the magazine's history, barring earlier articles on Jesse Ventura and Jimmy Carter.