• January 13, 2005

The Securities and Exchange Commission will not pursue charges against Google relating to an article appearing in Playboy magazine days before Google's initial public offering last August. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page spoke to Playboy magazine for the article, which came out when Google was supposed to be in its "quiet period"--meaning the company wasn't supposed to say anything that could affect its stock price.

Google also settled an outstanding issue with the SEC, and with California authorities, relating to stock options issued to some Google employees and consultants between 2002 and 2004, the company stated Thursday in an SEC filing. Without admitting wrongdoing, Google agreed to cease and desist from engaging in the stock option practices the SEC and California deemed objectionable. In a Merrill Lynch report about the settlement, analyst Lauren Rich Fine reiterated that Merrill Lynch was still "neutral" on Google's stock.

--Wendy Davis