Google inadvertently reveals internal projections

Google acknowledged Tuesday that it erred last week when it posted on its Web site internal projections not meant for the public.

The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the inadvertent statements were added to a presentation intended for analysts. Among those statements was one that said Google expected ad revenue to grow from "$6 billion this year to $9.5 billion next year."

Google explained in the filing that these estimates were part of an internal report on product strategy from last year.

"These notes were not created for financial planning purposes and should not be regarded as financial guidance," Google wrote in its filing."

A mistake was also made when Google said that "AdSense margins will be squeezed in 2006 and beyond."

That statement "does not reflect Google's current expectations," executives wrote in the SEC filing.

While Google didn't mean to add information on stock-based compensation for employees and directors, the company acknowledged that those numbers were correct. It said that a stock-based compensation charge of $342 million granted prior to 2006 is a "materially accurate reflection of Google's current expectations."

Google slipped up twice last week when it released information not intended for the public. The company also unwittingly released plans to offer online storage to users.

Last month, Dell apparently goofed when it allowed specifications for the Dell Inspiron e1405, as well as other unannounced Dell computers and products, to briefly be exposed by Google's search engine. The spreadsheet was removed from a Dell FTP site and from Google's cache.

Adult Supervision

The company is sorely in need of some old fashion adult supervision.

[SqlserverCode]

Beta?

Maybe it was a beta, like gmail ;-)

http://otherthingsnow.blogspot.com/

[kenrut]

Wake up call for General Counsels and IR staff

I have been blogging on this for quite a long time...see my complete rant at http://www.workshare.com/company/blog/

In November of last year, a similar gaffe caused the WestPac bank in Austrailia to actually suspend trading http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Hit_sen d_and_regret_it/0,2000061791,39220866,00.htm) In addition, Merck leaked hidden information in word processing document that could impact $7B of pending Vioxx litigation (http://www.forbes.com/2005/12/13/microsoft-word-merck_ cx_de_1214word.html?partner=yahootix). For a full list of leaks see www.metadarisk.org

Simple, afffordable technology is available to protect individuals and organizations from leaks like this, and Risk Manager must mitigate this risk for their own protection and shareholders good.

Ken Rutsky
EVP of Marketing
workshare
www.workshare.com

Comment by ken ? March 8, 2006