In an article in the Financial Times (London), Warren Buffett, the well respected chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, praised Google's corporte governance structure. Buffett is the second richest person in the world, just behind Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Google's prospectus contains a fairly lengthy "owners manual" very similar to Berkshire's communications to shareholders. Google identifies Berkshire as one of their role models.

Buffet says:

I am very pleased that the fellows at Google said they were influenced by the [Berkshire] owners manual."

"I liked their prose," said Mr Buffett. "It pleases us enormously that other people think it is a good idea to talk to their owners in a very straight-forward manner. I think more companies ought to do it."

But Buffett and his partner, Charlie Munger, warned about the dangers of IPOs for individuals:

"In an IPO the sellers decide when to come to market so it's way less likely that it's going to come at a time that suits you," he said. Charlie Munger, Mr Buffett's outspoken partner, added: "The average person buying IPOs is going to get creamed."

From the FT article:

Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Google's founders, last week outlined plans for an unusual public auction of their shares using a corporate structure which deliberately challenges traditional Wall Street orthodoxy. Like Berkshire Hathaway, they will refuse to give earnings guidance or aim for stable profits growth, and will create two classes of shareholders to protect management independence.

Berkshire's code of ethics (PDF) is not quite as simple as "Don't Be Evil," but at just 5 pages it's one of the shortest and clearest of big companies. It speaks in plain English about conflicts of interest, fair dealing, truth and full disclosure.