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Earth calling Google...

Charles Cooper CNET News

Published: 07 May 2004 17:25 BST

In the fifth grade, was I ever cool, enlightening my hopelessly square parents about the ways of the world. Or so I thought.

After reading through the introduction of Google's public stock filing, I now see that juvenile pomposity did not go out of style with the passing of the Nehru jacket. Sergey Brin and Larry Page have turned it into an art form. Too much has already been made of the company's upcoming IPO -- and this just in the first week after filing -- but the so-called owner's manual they co-authored opens a remarkable window into the essence of Googlism. So let's take a closer look.

Google is not a conventional company.
Kudos to Google's public relations office for bamboozling the business press, but the reality is less exciting than the myth. Remember all the cutesy-wootsy stuff that got written about Pierre Omidyar and the Pez dispensers at eBay? Only years later did we learn the story was bunk. Google can claim that it's not a conventional company, but Apple, Netscape and a clutch of other one-time technology hotshots also thought that they had broken the corporate mould at some point in their histories.

We do not intend to become one.
Once Google has to begin reporting to shareholders, that kind of baloney will sound even more ridiculous than it does today.

Throughout Google's evolution as a privately held company, we have managed Google differently. We have also emphasised an atmosphere of creativity and challenge, which has helped us provide unbiased, accurate and free access to information for those who rely on us around the world.
Get real. Google's purporting to be a special case notwithstanding, any company worth its salt -- in Silicon Valley or beyond -- can claim to emphasise creativity and challenge.

The time has come for the company to move to public ownership. This change will bring important benefits for our employees, for our present and future shareholders, for our customers, and most of all, for Google users.
Translation: Time to cash in.