Surviving the IPO From Hell; Google's auction format resulted in lower profit taking on the first day of trading.

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 30-AUG-04

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2004 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com

Byline: Steven Levy

Months ago, when the idea of Google's inevitable IPO could be discussed by its leaders only in hypothetical terms, cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were trying to explain to me (and perhaps themselves) why going public would not necessarily change the search-engine giant, or disrupt its mission. "I think there's always the opportunity to screw it up, be it private or public," said Brin. "Perhaps I'm naive."

We all know what happened next. Google's offering closed last week, crossing the finish line with the burnt-out lungs of a marathon runner. The company started by eschewing the traditional clubby IPO format (hard-to-get, underpriced shares dealt out to insiders, quickly turned around for profit) in favor of a risky, but supposedly more democratic, auction process....

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.