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| Google headquarters in California. Google Inc.'s hotly anticipated share listing appears set to
launch as early as Wednesday.(AFP) |
Google Inc. appeared set to start trading on the
Nasdaq on Wednesday, after the Web's No. 1 search engine asked regulators
for final approval to price its closely watched initial public offering.
Attention immediately shifted to the likely price of the shares in
Google's unconventional multi-billion dollar IPO, which is being priced
through an auction. Google is selling 25.7 million shares to the public in
an auction that began last Friday, and is expecting its shares to price at
$108 to $135 each.
The Web search company said on Monday it has asked
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to declare its registration
statement effective on Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT
.
Former SEC lawyers familiar with the IPO process said that most
companies usually price their shares within an hour of having their
registration statement declared effective, which allows them to sell
shares to the public. If Google prices soon after, the shares would most
likely start to trade in the next market session on Wednesday.
"It looks like they're all set to go," said Bryan Brown, a partner at
Porter & Hedges in Houston and a former SEC attorney.
Google has said in regulatory filings and again on
its Web site on Monday that it could accept successful bids for its IPO as
little as one hour after it notifies bidders
that the IPO document has been become
effective.
"This means they're done, and I would guess this means that they're
within their range," said Gregg Berman, partner at Fulbright &
Jaworski LLP.
An SEC spokesman and a spokesman for Google declined to comment.
Deal watchers continued to speculate on where
Google's pricing would land, given the recent downturn
in Internet stocks and a flood of negative
sentiment surrounding Google over the past two weeks.
"People didn't expect it to happen this early. Somehow demand has come
in from somewhere the Street didn't expect, or they're going to do it at a
lower price just to get it done," said Francis Gaskins, president of
IPODesktop in Los Angeles.
A different interpretation was offered by Connor Browne, associate
portfolio manager for the Thornburg Core Growth Fund, which invests $80
million.
"Because of what tech stocks have been doing recently, it is possible
that the price will be at the low end of the range," Browne said.
"There is a lot of uncertainty and lots of negative sentiment.
Management has made a number of missteps ranging from the lack of guidance
to the interview that may have violated U.S. securities rules that came
out just as the bidding began."
Nearly a dozen investors and analysts who are disclosing their pricing
expectations are predicting that Google's shares will be priced between
$70 and $115 per share.
A steady stream of negative publicity, most recently triggered by an interview in Playboy magazine with Google's founders
that may have violated securities laws, has also added to
worries over investing in Google.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-08-17 13:40