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Google co-founder Page stays quiet on IPO
Monterey, Feb 27: Google co-founder Larry Page said on Thursday that he and other executives of the Internet`s most popular search engine provider have made no statements about an initial public offering and said he was `dismayed` by the amount of conjecture being reported as fact.
Monterey, Feb 27: Google co-founder Larry Page said on Thursday that he and other executives of the Internet's most popular search engine provider have made no statements about an initial public offering and said he was "dismayed" by the amount of conjecture being reported as fact.
"We've made no statements about an IPO," said Page, who along with Sergei Brin founded Google in 1998.
"I have been a bit dismayed at the level of speculation that has been reported as fact. It's pretty amazing the stage we're at. ... Even when we don't do anything in some area, people make stuff up," Page told Reuters at a technology conference in Monterey, California.
"I think it's unrealistic for people to think that Google would affect the whole economy in ways that some people expect," Page said of the Mountain View, California-based company. "We're doing pretty well but there is a 40 per cent vacancy rate in the offices that surround us where we work."
Page, 31, who met Brin at Stanford University's graduate program and now serves as Google's president of products, said he spends his days working with the engineering teams on new services.
Google Inc., which has been widely expected to float its shares this year, faces increasing competition from media services company Yahoo Inc. and software giant Microsoft Corp. in the Web search business that it now leads.
"Our pressing focus for the last five years has been search and we will continue with this. You have to realize that there has been a huge increase in the size of information out there," Page said.
"On the more exciting front, you can imagine your brain being augmented by Google. For example you think about something and your cell phone could whisper the answer into your ear," he said.
Asked about how his life has changed given Google's success and the fact that the likes of former President Bill Clinton and actress Gwyneth Paltrow have both visited the company's headquarters, Page laughed.
"For me personally, things haven't changed that much. We've tried to do things that are really good," he said. "One of our sayings is 'Don't be evil' and we really do try to be a different kind of company and as a result people tend to have a different kind of view of us."
Page was attending the TED conference, an acronym for technology, entertainment and design, which brings together an eclectic group of executives, engineers and even animal researchers and artists in Monterey, California. Bureau Report
"We've made no statements about an IPO," said Page, who along with Sergei Brin founded Google in 1998.
"I have been a bit dismayed at the level of speculation that has been reported as fact. It's pretty amazing the stage we're at. ... Even when we don't do anything in some area, people make stuff up," Page told Reuters at a technology conference in Monterey, California.
"I think it's unrealistic for people to think that Google would affect the whole economy in ways that some people expect," Page said of the Mountain View, California-based company. "We're doing pretty well but there is a 40 per cent vacancy rate in the offices that surround us where we work."
Page, 31, who met Brin at Stanford University's graduate program and now serves as Google's president of products, said he spends his days working with the engineering teams on new services.
Google Inc., which has been widely expected to float its shares this year, faces increasing competition from media services company Yahoo Inc. and software giant Microsoft Corp. in the Web search business that it now leads.
"Our pressing focus for the last five years has been search and we will continue with this. You have to realize that there has been a huge increase in the size of information out there," Page said.
"On the more exciting front, you can imagine your brain being augmented by Google. For example you think about something and your cell phone could whisper the answer into your ear," he said.
Asked about how his life has changed given Google's success and the fact that the likes of former President Bill Clinton and actress Gwyneth Paltrow have both visited the company's headquarters, Page laughed.
"For me personally, things haven't changed that much. We've tried to do things that are really good," he said. "One of our sayings is 'Don't be evil' and we really do try to be a different kind of company and as a result people tend to have a different kind of view of us."
Page was attending the TED conference, an acronym for technology, entertainment and design, which brings together an eclectic group of executives, engineers and even animal researchers and artists in Monterey, California. Bureau Report