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April 29, 2004

Today's news

Google Files to Go Public

Posted by Carole Matthews at 3:10 PM

Well the hotly anticipated Google IPO has gotten underway. The company filed to go public today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in hopes of raising $2.7 billion dollars in an unusual auction-style offering. What does this mean? The company proposes to create two classes of shares with differing voting rights, guaranteeing that the founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, keep decision-making authority.

What does this mean for tech IPOs, which have suffered greatly since the great dotcom bubble burst? Tech IPOs have seen have seen a resurgence lately, which some attribute to VCs trying to recoup investments and to private companies trying to get out the door before the big Google IPO. But George Colony of C|Net speculates that an inflated Google IPO could signal Bubble II, a period of "overpriced froth," in his opinion.

5 Comments

Posted by: Sterling Wright at April 29, 2004 11:58 PM

Brin and Page will quickly learn what you did today is history as far as the market is concerned. However, they are better positioned than most companies because they have a strong financial foundation.

It will be interesting to see if users remain loyal. There are very few things stronger than brand loyalty. If you ask someone why they bought the same dishwasher, or why they bought the same ketchup, or why they shop at the same store, or use the same search engine...You will likely hear, "They know What they are doing....or They are dependable....I trust them".

If you sell--anything-- be it to a consumer or another business-- you can't ask for more than that. But, Brand loyalty can be severed, especiallt when it comes to the internet. Once that happens it is extremely difficult to get those customers back. Before I invest in Google, I would like to know what type of products and services they have planned for the future? Certainly, they will have develop more products than just email to keep customers interested?

Posted by: Sterling Wright at April 30, 2004 12:04 AM

There are very few things stronger than brand loyalty. If you ask someone why they bought the same dishwasher, or why they bought the same ketchup, or why they shop at the same store, or use the same search engine...You will likely hear, "They know What they are doing....or They are dependable....I trust them".

If you sell--anything-- be it to a consumer or another business-- you can't ask for more than that. But, Brand loyalty can be severed, especially when it comes to search engines. It is extremely difficult to get those customers back. It will be interesting to see what products and services Google develops to protect and potentially expand its brand loyalty among not only advertisers, but web surfers.

Before I invest in Google I would want to know that! It is going to take more than email to keep web surfers loyal?

Posted by: Chuck H at April 30, 2004 10:52 AM

I think Google could turn out to be a good stock to own despite the tech bust.

It remains to be seen if this auction will really help the little guy get in on the ground floor and if google will be immunne to Wall Street's short term thinking.

Chuck
http://1stHowToWorkAtHome.com

Posted by: Colin Charles at April 30, 2004 7:31 PM

I hear that their official mission statement is 'Do no evil'. I also hear they stated in their share offer paperwork something like 'having the short-term interests of shareholders constantly prompting you is about as helpful to long term planning as a weight watcher having to step on the bathroom scales every half-hour' That's cool. It's great to have so much money in such responsible hands for once... I hope.

Posted by: Justin at May 5, 2004 12:48 PM

I wish them the best of luck! I hope they don't change their format much but I'm sure the IPO is going to change alot for the company.

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