Google’s prime directive remains intact. The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled Thursday that the company’s missteps in not registering millions of options and not keeping quiet during the pre-IPO quiet period were not “evil” but “very naughty.” Practicing semi-tough love, the SEC levied no fine but extracted a solemn promise from Google never to do it again. The company’s general counsel, David Drummond, took the bulk of the wrist-slapping over the failure to register more than $80 million in employee options, a move the SEC said he knew would let Google keep a lot of financial information under wraps. The commission also let slide a big Playboy interview with founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page that appeared during the pre-IPO period in which company execs are supposed to be seen but not heard (see “ Google guys to Playboy: They’re real and they’re fabulous … no, our options, you idiots ”). Marc Fagel, assistant district administrator of the SEC’s San Francisco office, told the L.A. Times the agency wanted to give Google a public scolding to as a warning to others , but didn’t fine it because the violation did not cost investors money and company executives cooperated with investigators. And investors? Way, way past all of this .
[Listening to: Yeh Tara Woh Tara - Swades - Swades (07:09)]