Sergey Brin and Larry Page gave the interview in April, before Google filed for an initial public offering, or IPO. But its publication in the September issue of Playboy magazine has fallen within the "quiet period" required by securities regulators, giving rise to fears that the floatation would have to be delayed.
The auction has gone ahead, although the search engine giant was forced to make some changes to its IPO prospectus in order to comply with requirements imposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to overcome the potential impact of the article's publication.
These included the addition of a copy of the article, the amendment of various errors contained in the article and a warning that the company may have violated the quiet period and may subsequently be at risk of legal action from disgruntled shareholders, if the share price falls after the floatation.
Among the errors, the article stated that more than 65 million people use Google each day. "We believe that this number represents monthly, not daily, domestic visitors data as compiled by a third party research organization," reports the company's filing.
The IPO is now under way, with the entire offering being sold by means of an auction, which should give the public a greater chance of purchasing the shares before they become traded publicly.
Google estimates that the share price will be between $108 and $135, but a price will not be set until the auction is closed later this week.
Google is not off the hook over its badly timed interview, however. According to the Washington Post the SEC will be investigating the matter further, and the company may be forced to repurchase the shares sold in the IPO if the SEC considers this necessary.
Google has already faced criticism over other IPO bungles, including the confession that it forgot to register over 28 million shares and stock options issued to past and present employees, putting it in breach of stock market rules.
As a result the search giant has offered to buy back the unregistered securities, at a likely cost of around £25.9 million.