The sale of Google shares will make some people very, very rich (Agencies)

Google's initial public offering has been priced at $85 a share, much lower than earlier estimates of up to $135.

US regulators on Wednesday approved documents relating to the flotation of the internet search engine, and shares could start trading on Thursday.

The sale of 19.6m shares - lower than the planned 25.7m - will raise $1.67bn in the fourth largest US IPO this year.

The move is likely to have been needed to revive interest as stock exchanges around the world come under pressure.

The Securities and Exchange Commission signed off relevant paperwork on Wednesday, enabling Google to proceed.

The price values Google at $23bn, significantly less than the $36bn projected at the higher share price.

With the rewards set to be less, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are selling a smaller part of their stake, with other executives also holding on to more of their stocks.

"They recognised that there wasn't the appetite for shares," said Hilary Cook, an analyst at Barclays stockbrokers in London.

The planned flotation , watched with keen interest around the globe, already has encountered some problems.

It was delayed after the SEC took longer to sign off the necessary paperwork than previously expected.

With SEC approval achieved, Google will stop accepting bids for its shares and could start issuing stock within a matter of hours.

The lower price, however, means the number of shares being sold also has been cut.

According to a statement on its website, Google said that "selling shareholders" would now offer 5.5 million stocks, less than half the amount they first planned to offload .

Among those offloading a portion of their stock with Mr Page and Mr Brin are a number of other company executives and the venture capital firms which helped fund the company's expansion.

Google has been offering shares through a "Dutch auction" designed to give small investors a better chance of getting their hands on its stock.

Potential buyers are asked to specify both the price they are willing to pay, and the number of shares they want.

The bids are placed in order, starting with those offering the highest price. The allocators work down the list from the top, allotting each bid in turn the shares it requests, until all the shares available have been accounted for.

The lowest successful bid then becomes the issue price, and the flotation can begin.

Google will trade on the technology-heavy Nasdaq exchange.

The company does, however, have a couple of clouds on its horizon.

Google revealed on Monday that the US stock market watchdog had launched an informal inquiry into its failure to register shares given to employees.

The probe centres on a possible breach of US stock market rules arising from the firm's failure to register 23 million shares and 5.6 million share options it offered to employees and consultants.

(Agencies)

flotation: financing a commercial enterprise by bond or stock shares（籌資開辦）

offload : transfer to a peripheral device, of computer data（卸下）