Google founder says an IPO could be a 'distraction'

NEW YORK - Google is unlikely to go public any time in the near future, after one of the search engine's founders said that an IPO could be a distraction.

Sergey Brin told a computer industry conference in Scottsdale, Arizona that the idea of having to deal with numbers on a quarterly basis could be a distraction and was one reason that no IPO is currently planned. But he did say: "It's something that's definitely been debated."

is starting to transform its massive popularity with web users into profits, launching paid-for search terms and testing a new shopping site called Froogle. It also has partnerships with other leading brands, including Yahoo! and Disney, to make its search engine available through other sites.

Reports say that the company has been profitable for the last couple of years.

Google has been a success through word of mouth. The name is now used as a verb for looking someone or something up on the internet, and it has also given birth to an online game called Googlewhacking, where users must enter two search terms and try to come up with only one page as a result.

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