Google Cancels Spring IPO

securitas writes "Google fans and potential investors will be disappointed to learn that they must wait a while longer before they can own a piece of Google. The Times of London's James Doran reports that Google's IPO plans are on hold. CEO Eric Schmidt appears to think that market conditions are not right. When pressed for details about the delayed IPO, Schmidt said, "An IPO is not on my agenda right now." A commentary about the delayed Google IPO follows. Mirror at Australian IT."

Comments

Not terribly surprised

[wawannem]

I mean, before the .com boom, companies usually only went public because they needed money to grow. Google seems to sustain a very healthy bottom-line and I think they have yet to figure out what they want to grow into.

Re:Not terribly surprised

[goatasaur]

Until of course they go ahead with the IPO, become so top-heavy and ad-driven in a couple years that they topple over.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Bravo Google

[Cr3d3nd0]

Frankly I'm all for them never releasing an IPO. Sure it brings in extra cash in the short term but in the long term, your buisness focus shifts from your product and customers to the whims of your shareholders. One of the primary reasons people use google that I've seen isn't the qualit of searches, it's the lack of abusive adds, and genereal "customer friendly" enviroment that google provides. So the longer they put off selling stock the longer they don't have shareholders breathing down their necks for better profit margins.

Re:Bravo Google

[1000101]

"Sure it brings in extra cash in the short term but in the long term, your buisness focus shifts from your product and customers to the whims of your shareholders."

You make it sound like every company that is traded publicly doesn't produce good products. I am a shareholder of a number of different companies and the only thing I care about is that they keep producing quality products so customers continue to buy them. Companies that fit your description typically don't last.

Good

[wizarddc]

I find this good news. The longer that Google's technology interests are held in private hands, rather than the public interest of their stock price, I think the world is a better place. I'll be crying when I see GUGL -1 3/4 running across the bottom of my TV screen.

Why would I be disappointed?

[andih8u]

Look what happened to Yahoo when they went public. An IPO is not a good thing. Letting a bunch of Wall Street financial people have a say in what to do with your tech company is just a bad idea.

This is good news

[Tassach]

Going public is very often the worst mistake a company can make. Knowledgable private investors are very often more forward-thinking and tuned in to long-term performance, whereas stock market investors are very fickle and often don't look any further forward than the next quarterly earnings statement.

I'm not interested in Google as an investment opportunity; I just want a search engine that doesn't suck. Staying private lets Google concentrate on what they're good at -- making good tools -- and not worry about having Wall Street yahoos questioning every decision they make and penalizing them for long-term strategy over short-term profit.

Here's the deal

[peterdaly]

People are asking why Google wants/needs to go public.

Here's the deal...private Google stock is held by too many people. They are at the threshold of legally be required to make their books public, and for all intentensive purposes acting like a publically held company.

As long as they will be required to act like a public company, there is a large financial incentive for them to take the next step and trade publically.

Whether they need the money or not...it is knocking on their door (both corp. and personally) asking to be taken. This knocking is (or maybe was) too hard for them to resist.

-Pete

Re:ugh

[Greyfox]

More to the point, with numbers like that why do they even need an IPO? Why bother whoring yourself out to Wall Street when you can already afford to fill your swimming pool with cash?

Not disappointed at all

[sacrilicious]

Google fans... will be disappointed

Nope. I'm a huge fan of google, but I'm quite happy at this turn of events. Going public puts pressure on a company to push for maximum short-term profit, and I like google just the way it is. If they needed the money to stay alive then that'd be one thing, but they don't.

Re:ugh

[dubiousmike]

ok, I'll bite at the parent comment that I can't believe is modded up insightful.

Companies can either grow or stagnate. If Microsoft didn't venture into new areas, other companies would. Microsoft is interested in capitalizing in every area they can and they owe it to their stock holders to do so (I am not one and am not generally a Microsoft fan).

But to play devils advocate....
Remember when Apple concentrated on making computers and allowed others to make hardware that was compatable with their OS? Now they sell MP3 players, sell music online, drive businesses who made major software for their platform away by building competing products (Adobe and FCP), force all of us to use their hardware, ect...

To paraphrase your comment, "Can't they (Apple) be satisfied just making umpteen...dollars in profit a year on their operating system...and leave the rest of the industry to try to eek out a profit on the crumbs leftover?

Of course not, that would be silly and shortsighted, just like your comment...