Last week was exciting watching Google declare that they were going to have an Initial Public Offering.

The search engine was required to make a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, even though they aren’t a business with publically traded stock, because of an SEC regulation requiring a business of their size to make a public disclosure. Since they had to make a statement about some of the inner workings at the Googleplex, it was a good time to also offer shares to the public.

We discussed their IPO at the forums, but there have been a number of opinions about the upcoming sale of securities to the public.

One of the most interesting features of the Google filing is the letter it starts with, written by Google co-president Larry Page. He admits that he was influenced by businessman Warren Buffet in writing the document, and that it was based upon a letter written to shareholders by Mr. Buffet. You can tell reading it that it comes from the heart, and in the letter’s ernest, sincere, heartfelt manner, the character of the company comes through.

Being Warren Buffet

Unsurprisingly, the Google Founders asked for permission to model their disclosure document after Warren Buffet’s Owner’s Manual to Shareholders:

“I’ve actually never talked to the fellows,” Buffett, the world’s second-richest man, said in an interview at the annual Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. “They did send me a note ahead of time and (asked) would I mind if they used it like that. I thought their owners manual was absolutely terrific.”

As influences go, I have to give Larry Page and Sergey Brin kudos for their choice of a set of words to emulate. If you thought that their letter was interesting, you might enjoy the template upon which it was based (PDF). I’m not sure if anyone else in the world can capture the essence of both folksy and intelligent as Mr. Buffet.

From the booklet “An Owner’s Manual” which he sent out to shareholders in June of 1996:

At Berkshire you will find no “big bath” accounting maneuvers or restructurings nor any “smoothing” of quarterly or annual results. We will always tell you how many strokes we have taken on each hole and never play around with the scorecard.

But, Warren Buffet wasn’t the only influence. At one point, Larry Page makes a promise that they will do no evil. That has long been a philosphy that Google has admitted to following. But, pundits and journalists had some other opinions.

Perfect Harmony?

For instance, The Register’s Andrew Orlowski accused them of filing a Coca-Cola jingle with the SEC. It’s one of the best articles Mr. Orlowski has written about the search engine. He’s kidding. Well, sort of. He does seem to see the bright side of this move to public ownership.

Not Buffet, but Wonka?

At least one Wall Street pundit had somewhat harsh words for Google, and compared their efforts more to those of Willie Wonka. From what I understand, the rest of Wall Street is equally unimpressed by Google.

I think We’re Doing the Right Thing?

But Wall Street is pretty far from the Googleplex, and the best view of the action may have been from inside. If you missed the Google Weblog’s Insider Report, it’s worth a visit.

Where will Google be this time next year? What risks will they face, and what troubles will they have overcome? There’s a good chance that we’ll get a letter from the founders telling us in their own voices.