August 24, 2004

Playboy magazine posted previously unpublished sections of the controversial interview with Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

The excerpt, which was posted on the magazine's Web site yesterday, comes after Google's $1.67 billion initial stock sale last week. In it, Sergey Brin and Larry Page reveal more about the inner workings of their company.

The full-length article threatened to delay the IPO when it appeared during the so-called "quiet period" that bars executives from touting their companies ahead of an initial offering.

The Securities and Exchange Commission allowed the Google IPO to proceed after the company acknowledged in an amended shareholder prospectus that the interview may have violated securities laws.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the latest posting, saying the company was still in a quiet period.

In yesterday's excerpt, founder Larry Page provides additional insight on how the unconventional company is managed, portraying the corporate culture as autonomous, freethinking and decentralized.

"We don't have as many managers as we should, but we would rather have too few than too many," he said. "We want a thin structure. It could be too thin. The downside is that people don't get the attention they need, especially the more junior people. "

He added that the company encourages engineers to pursue many smaller projects, rather than fewer big projects.

"On that scale, there's a lot of creativity and a lot of self-managing," he said. "If you have just a few huge projects and you realize you're going in the wrong direction, many people are on the wrong track."

Page also discusses the pitfalls of having grown so big so fast, and the challenges it poses to a company that thrives on creativity and independence.

"It turns out you have two choices: You can try to control people, or you can try to have a system that represents reality. I find that knowing what's really happening is more important than trying to control people."

Google shares closed yesterday at $109.40, up $1.09.

Source: NY Post

        

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