By Greg Sandoval, 8 March 2006 08:25
NEWS
Google acknowledged on Tuesday that it erred last week when it posted on its website internal projections not meant for the public.
The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the inadvertent statements were added to a presentation intended for analysts. Among those statements was one that said Google expected ad revenue to grow from "$6bn this year to $9.5bn next year."
Google explained in the filing that these estimates were part of an internal report on product strategy from last year.
It wrote in its filing: "These notes were not created for financial planning purposes and should not be regarded as financial guidance."
A mistake was also made when Google said that "AdSense margins will be squeezed in 2006 and beyond".
That statement "does not reflect Google's current expectations", executives wrote in the SEC filing.
While Google didn't mean to add information on stock-based compensation for employees and directors, the company acknowledged that those numbers were correct. It said a stock-based compensation charge of $342m granted prior to 2006 is a "materially accurate reflection of Google's current expectations".
Google slipped up twice last week when it released information not intended for the public. The company also unwittingly released plans to offer online storage to users.
Last month, Dell apparently goofed when it allowed specifications for the Dell Inspiron e1405, as well as other unannounced Dell computers and products, to briefly be exposed by Google's search engine. The spreadsheet was removed from a Dell FTP site and from Google's cache.
Greg Sandoval writes for CNET News.com
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