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From 2004: Google's Letter to Prospective Shareholders

We will make decisions on the business fundamentals, not accounting considerations, and always with the long term welfare of our company and shareholders in mind.

Although we may discuss long term trends in our business, we do not plan to give earnings guidance in the traditional sense. We are not able to predict our business within a narrow range for each quarter. We recognize that our duty is to advance our shareholders' interests, and we believe that artificially creating short term target numbers serves our shareholders poorly. We would prefer not to be asked to make such predictions, and if asked we will respectfully decline. A management team distracted by a series of short term targets is as pointless as a dieter stepping on a scale every half hour. (So they're saying I'm fat??)

Today: Google Executives Exude Optimism

Google Inc. executives provided investment analysts with a bright outlook Thursday in a display of confidence that appeared aimed at defusing growth concerns raised by the search engine leader‘s chief financial officer earlier this week.

Schmidt underscored his optimism at one point by saying Google someday might generate $100 billion in annual revenue as it expands into a variety of new advertising channels, including television, radio and publishing. The 7-year-old company‘s revenue totaled $6.1 billion last year.

Consider the scale stepped on.

Another metaphor dies a painful death. I never though I'd see a large multinational corporation sell out for the almighty dollar.

Posted by edelfenbein at March 2, 2006 5:16 PM