Google mistakenly released some of its ad sales
projections on the web last week, the second time in recent days
that the company has slipped up in releasing information not meant
for public consumption.
Last week, Google also unwittingly released plans to offer
on-line storage to users, which would see a mirror image of users’
hard drives being stored on Google servers, to offer data back-up
in case of system crashes in users’ PCs.
This information was discovered on the Google website by a
blogger, and was later taken down by Google.
The other gaffe is explained in a filing with the US Securities
and Exchange Commission, when Google revealed that statements had
been inadvertently added to a presentation intended for
analysts.
One of those statements said Google expected ad revenue to grow
from “$6bn this year to $9.5bn next year”.
Google said this information was not supposed to have been
released and that it came from an internal report on product
strategy, which was written last year.
“These notes were not created for financial planning purposes
and should not be regarded as financial guidance,” Google said in
its SEC filing.
Nevertheless, such ad growth would be impressive if it turned
into reality.
Google also mistakenly revealed information about stock-based
compensation for employees and directors in the presentation,
although it said in its SEC filing that the figures included were
“materially accurate”.