F.
A public company owned by the public. Wall Street predictors now estimate that when Google stocks are issued some weeks from now, the company will be valued at as much as $30 billion, making Brin and Page (who each own about 15 percent) worth more than $4 billion each. But personal wealth is clearly not the obsession of the cofounders, who share a cluttered office in the campus dubbed the Googleplex. As evidenced by their 'owners manual,' they have been struggling with a deep question: how can they preserve their company approach, culture and vision if it is to be publicly traded and beholden to shareholders 7 And they have come up with some answers. (41)______. Google is obsessed with democracy. The basis of all its wealth springs from the Google search algorithms, which search through and index the Web in such a way as to capture the collective intelligence of its users. It's kind of a democratic process, and apparently this idea carries over to who should own shares. Google is repelling to be associated with the go-go (and, ultimately, gone-gone) superheroes of the dot-com era, and to discourage speculation Page and Brin outline 'a fair process for our IPO that is inclusive of both small and large investors.' They propose an auction that will by pass the daytraders and fat cats and, hopefully, reach their ideal investor—,-a wise soul willing to hang in for the long haul. When it comes to control, though, Google's leaders believe that it should rest with them. The company will have two classes of stock, one of which has greater voting rights owned by them. (42)______. Sounding dangerously like a fortune cookie, the cofounders write, 'A management team distracted by a series of short-term targets is as pointless as a dieter stepping on a scale every half hour.' Google won't fall for that, they insist. There will be no attempt to massage quarterly results to please Wall Street. And if you ask them how things will go in the next couple of months, 'we will respectfully decline' to offer guidance. (43)______. Brin and Page knew that doubters predicted that going public would be the end of Google's employee amenities like free lunches cooked by Jerry Garcia's former chef and massages on call. But 'when you look at the financials, that costs nothing,' said Brin recently. 'It's less than a rounding error.' He and Page are telling shareholders to 'expect us to add benefits rather than reduce them over time.' (44)______. Brin, Page and CEO Eric Schmidt run the company as a messy triumvirate. However, they do include spats between them as a possible risk factor. And the chain of command will be further complicated by their requirement that the board chairman should not be an insider. (45)______. In case there was any doubt about Google's priorities, Page and Brin put it in black and white: 'We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place.' The company motto is 'Don't be evil,' and shareholders should be aware that this could impact stock price. Google is putting 1 percent of its wealth in a foundation that someday 'may eclipse Goggle itself in terms of overall world impact.' All fascinating but not really an answer to that big question: should you get in on this.'? That will depend on how Google can maintain its amazing momentum in t