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Google IPO Open for Registration
Jon Shoberg writes "Google IPO is open for bid registration. From the front page: 'A registration statement relating to Google's Class A common stock has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. Google's Class A common stock may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of Google's Class A common stock in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. No offer to buy shares of Google's Class A common stock can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until the registration statement has become effective, and any such offer may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time until the notice of acceptance is sent after the effective date. Of the shares to be sold in Google's initial public offering of Class A common stock, 14,142,135 shares will be issued and sold by Google and 10,494,524 of the shares will be sold by the selling stockholders.'"
I have no idea what that means.
A convoluted advertisement for the upcoming IPO... of which I will probably not be able to afford - even *with* the Dutch Auction.
meh
He goes to great lengths to say it's a solicitation, when it's pretty close to being an advertisement.
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With all the hype surrounding this IPO it is sure to drive in some individual investors who would otherwise not commit themselves to such a high level of risk.
This is one of the rare times when an indivudal without millions in worth will have the opprunity to purchase shares from a company's public offering.
In my opinion any individual who purchases these shares is not doing themselves any favor. What is the goal behind buying any? Priced between 108-135 the odds of GOOG appreciating in value anytime soon after the IPO are slim.
Even in their SEC filings they admit in the risks section that they face increasingly greater compettition. They are not immune anymore and I would not want to myself to buy any of these shares nor would I like any family members.
"... of which I will probably not be able to afford - even *with* the Dutch Auction."
... or maybe even less.
Wait a couple of years. It's not totally unlikely that you could buy it for, say, $4/share in 2 years
What does a search engine need with $3.3 billion other than $$$ for the board members? I love google as much as anyone but I won't be buying their stock....unless it is in a mutual fund or stock index fund.....
They are making money.
They do have a stranglehold on the market.
The geeks will still be in charge, The Dutch Auction proves it. I'm sure we've read all the article from Wall Street moaning about how they are getting treated like a B*tch by Google.
We only have to worry if we see the Google-Bowl or a SuperBowl TV Ad.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Canadians can buy any stock they want from any country. You can even have some international stocks in your RRSP. The US pushed for years to make sure that Americans could buy anybody else's companies. Of course the rules work in both directions and sometimes Uncle Sam finds that annoying.
There are exceptions. Air Canada for instance. There is a rule that says that 51% of its stock has to be owned by Canadians. The same rule applies to ownership of Canadian media. Of course in the quantities that you and I can buy stocks, such rules don't affect us.
I don't think this should have been modded "funny".
My guess is that Google will use the money to start an acquisition binge. Might not be Yahoo, but start looking around at who you think Google might like to buy. (then buy their stock if they are public) You certainly don't need $3 billion dollars to improve search functionality.
Read any good sonnets lately?
Keep in mind that Google has additional avenues of business available to them. Not only have they built some phenominal search technology, but they have also demonstrated the versatility of Linux and the GooOS at maintaining a vast sea of computing hardware.
In the future it may be a Google-inspired operating system that we run for our enterprise computing tasks. The Google Search Appliance is a targeted business to test the culmination of this technology as a consumer product.
Time will tell, but I suspect this is a more robust company than the dot-bombs of the mid 90's. As always, skip the IPO and pickup stock after the initial boom cycle has given way to bust. Don't forget to read the prospectus and do the math to figure out what the company is *really* worth.
Eric Sarjeant
eric[@]sarjeant.com
The lesson that you should have learned is that you should not buy a piece of a non-profitable company. That was a stupid gamble.
lol that's true :) A lot of people seem to be content to let the owners control it well into the future; while another bunch don't like the ownership plan...
My point is that you don't need to have these special shares. The founders already own a huge chunk of Google and if they want to keep control of it, they can keep their shares (as opposed to selling it). By creating the special shares, the founders want both: control and wealth. The first is achieved by owning the class B (or whatever) shares, while the latter is achieved by selling the common shares.
In the short term none of this will matter. But the long-run is another story. The time will come when the owners will do a bad job and have to be replaced. If they owned voting rights then they will always control the company. Short and medium term investors wouldn't care about the voting rights but long-term ones will definitely do.
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places