The Mercury News reports that Google is not eager for an IPO, although it strikes me that he sounds a bit like Caesar pushing away the crown for the third time. "Thus far, laziness has always won out. There are so many better things to do,'' he [Sergey Brin] said.
As Brin cited, according to the article, negatives include public disclosure of company finances, increased focus on quarterly financial goals and distractions for employees. In those, the worst, I think, would be the obsessive focus on quarterly goals that would distract from Google's primary purpose of providing search results. I also fear that shareholders would effectively destroy the very philosophy that has brought Google to its current position of preeminence. I would add that consequent to that particular problem of focus on quarterlies, other problems might strike, as in the case of the Netscape IPO. One would be featuritis. While Google has some fascinating experiments going, I'd hate to see them taking up space on the main page or detracting from the pristine search box that has been Google's strength.
Another fear is stupid investors completely taking over and doing the worst. Google with pop-ups? Porn ads? That fucking X11 cam? I would hope any stock deal is structured so that any partners are not merely silent, but bound and gagged and kept in a steamer trunk like the Gimp.
Posted by muldrake at March 27, 2003 12:12 AM