Chronicle Scoop: Google Forecast Leak

One day before Google is set to announce its first public quarter, the SF Chronicle gets a hold of leaked internal documents which allege that Google has internal forecasts which show the company nearly tripling its advertising base over the next five years.

Google, a company that refuses to make financial forecasts, expects to add 372,000 advertiser accounts over the next four years, according to internal documents obtained by The Chronicle.

Coming as it does one day before earnings, I have to wonder about the how and why of these documents being leaked. The numbers are credible, in that the kind of growth Google is allegedly forecasting is reasonable, if you add together all possible new local, email, AdSense, and AdWords advertisers (plus more for whatever they come up with next). But how did the reporter get this info? I wonder, was this leak intentional, or a mistake?

Update: Google claims the numbers are “inaccurate.”