Was Google’s Schmidt joking?

 San Jose Mercury News columnist Mike Langberg applies quite the spanking to Google CEO Eric Schmidt this morning.

Schmidt’s sin? A flippant remark during the company’s annual Wall Street analysts briefing yesterday.

Schmidt had listed a number of company priorities, including this one: “Building the systems and infrastructure of a global $100 billion company.”

According to Langberg, “Then he looked out at the audience and said, ‘`I’ll leave it as an exercise to you as to whether Google means $100 billion in revenue or valuation.’ ”

But as Langberg notes, Google’s valuation already exceeds $100 billion, even after the pounding its stock has taken as of late.

Google’s revenue was $6 billion and change last year.

So was Schmidt joking or seriously suggesting to the Wall Street crowd that such meteoric growth is attainable?

An hour ago I sent an e-mail to Google public relations seeking a clarification. I’ll let you know what they say.