Eric Schmidt said that neither Larry Page nor Sergey Brin did not give anyone an interview because of an article in the Playboy
Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt told Stanford students in an open lecture about why the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, avoid being interviewed. Or, at least, did not do this for a very long time.
Back in 2003, when Google launched its IPO, around the company there was a certain atmosphere of distrust both for its leaders and for its future. Mark Malcid, author of Google. A breakthrough in the spirit of the times, ”says that the reasons for this were all sorts of negative rumors. For example, many industry media reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was conducting an investigation into Google, and later it became known that the large investment bank Merrill Lynch did not want to participate in the auction without explaining the reasons. In addition, Page and Brin planned to place the shares at prices ranging from $ 108 to $ 135, which seemed to the market players to be too high.
Until 2005, there was a special “silence period” (Quiet period) before the IPO in the United States, which has been active in the country since the 1930s. According to this principle, the company is prohibited to publicly disclose any information about itself or its activities during the period from the date of filing the registration application for IPO and after 25 days of trading of already placed shares. Thus, they tried to avoid possible speculations on the stock exchange and inflating the prices of the company's shares by manipulating public opinion.
And so, when Google’s future doubts were less settled, the famous Playboy magazine published an interview with the founders of the search giant, which was titled as “Google Guys”. The text was devoted to the company's business and how Google interacts, for example, with the Chinese government (there are no pictures by reference). This publication was interpreted on Wall Street as a violation of the “silence period” and added even more distrust to the piggy bank of doubts about the maturity of company executives. Moreover, the interview was not in the traditional for the financial market The Wall Street Journal, but in an entertainment magazine known for photographs of naked girls ( no longer ).
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Playboy editor described his interview with the founders of Google: “Bryn barefoot played volleyball in an open area. I barely dragged him away. He pondered my questions with a serious expression on his face, occasionally reinforced by a salad. During the conversation, he and Page (this one was in shoes) practically did not sit down. They stood, leaning back in their chairs, or strolling around the conference room. Probably, when you are engaged in changing the world for the better, it is very difficult to sit still. ”
It looked like a magazine cover:
Playboy’s publication has led analysts to consider Google’s IPO as a “likely event”, “everything has become unclear” and the transfer of everything to autumn has become possible (it was originally planned to go public in the spring of 2004). At this time, Google lawyers found a solution to the problem that satisfied everyone: the text of the Playboy interview was added as an attachment to the company's IPO application. In response, the Securities Commission found the incident almost settled and did not apply penalties to Google. Nevertheless, according to Schmidt, the ill-fated interview cost both Google founders and serious nerves and financial problems (the maximum price of the shares was reduced to $ 95), and they learned the lesson very well. Over the next 11 years, the media reported on some changes and news in Google from the words of Page and Brin, only if the founders of the search giant themselves wanted to.
Back in 2003, when Google launched its IPO, around the company there was a certain atmosphere of distrust both for its leaders and for its future. Mark Malcid, author of Google. A breakthrough in the spirit of the times, ”says that the reasons for this were all sorts of negative rumors. For example, many industry media reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was conducting an investigation into Google, and later it became known that the large investment bank Merrill Lynch did not want to participate in the auction without explaining the reasons. In addition, Page and Brin planned to place the shares at prices ranging from $ 108 to $ 135, which seemed to the market players to be too high.
Until 2005, there was a special “silence period” (Quiet period) before the IPO in the United States, which has been active in the country since the 1930s. According to this principle, the company is prohibited to publicly disclose any information about itself or its activities during the period from the date of filing the registration application for IPO and after 25 days of trading of already placed shares. Thus, they tried to avoid possible speculations on the stock exchange and inflating the prices of the company's shares by manipulating public opinion.
And so, when Google’s future doubts were less settled, the famous Playboy magazine published an interview with the founders of the search giant, which was titled as “Google Guys”. The text was devoted to the company's business and how Google interacts, for example, with the Chinese government (there are no pictures by reference). This publication was interpreted on Wall Street as a violation of the “silence period” and added even more distrust to the piggy bank of doubts about the maturity of company executives. Moreover, the interview was not in the traditional for the financial market The Wall Street Journal, but in an entertainment magazine known for photographs of naked girls ( no longer ).
')
Playboy editor described his interview with the founders of Google: “Bryn barefoot played volleyball in an open area. I barely dragged him away. He pondered my questions with a serious expression on his face, occasionally reinforced by a salad. During the conversation, he and Page (this one was in shoes) practically did not sit down. They stood, leaning back in their chairs, or strolling around the conference room. Probably, when you are engaged in changing the world for the better, it is very difficult to sit still. ”
It looked like a magazine cover:
Playboy’s publication has led analysts to consider Google’s IPO as a “likely event”, “everything has become unclear” and the transfer of everything to autumn has become possible (it was originally planned to go public in the spring of 2004). At this time, Google lawyers found a solution to the problem that satisfied everyone: the text of the Playboy interview was added as an attachment to the company's IPO application. In response, the Securities Commission found the incident almost settled and did not apply penalties to Google. Nevertheless, according to Schmidt, the ill-fated interview cost both Google founders and serious nerves and financial problems (the maximum price of the shares was reduced to $ 95), and they learned the lesson very well. Over the next 11 years, the media reported on some changes and news in Google from the words of Page and Brin, only if the founders of the search giant themselves wanted to.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/366725/
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