When I first heard this interview was coming, last week, I thought “Hmmm…wonder why that’s happening.” But I did not post on it. Google is not known for doing anything press related without calculating the impact down to the last meme, so it struck me that they had thought through the implications of a Playboy piece – and the attendant coverage it would create from journalists angry *they* didn’t get the interview. I figured the Playboy interview was given way before the quiet period ever started. I was wrong – it was given in early April – one week before Google filed. Now the SEC is investigating.
Could this be a case where Playboy ran with the interview against the wishes of the company? We may never know, but now the pundits are predicting this might delay the IPO, a la Benioff.
If it does, as Ross points out in an earlier comment here, it might be just what they need – a reprieve from the dog days of August, a delay that is rather harmless, as opposed to a painful postponement due to “adverse market conditions.” Your move, Mr. SEC….