To: Urlman who wrote (132 ) 4/29/2004 7:51:25 PM From: Lizzie Tudor Respond to yeah you and I seem to agree. I think I recall from the old H&Q "Open IPO" site (this was the trial for the dutch auction which I believe Google is attempting) that a floor price is set for the stock, that is probably the 2.7 billion amt.New banking firms like WR Hambrecht have been pushing the idea of the "Dutch Auction IPO" where instead of having a bunch of greedy investment bankers setting the price of your IPO (and, of course, pricing it below the real market price to guarantee a first day pop that the press likes so much - even though it means lost money to the company) you let everyone and anyone bid on how much they want to pay, and then set the actual IPO price based on the highest price where all of your shares will sell out. (this is the "dutch" part of the auction, everybody gets the same price) For years, this option has been around, but most companies have been afraid to try it out, believing (perhaps correctly) that they needed big name investment bankers touting the stock to guarantee that it got enough attention from the financial community. Google, of course, doesn't have that problem. Everyone has been drooling over the concept of a Google IPO for ages, so they don't necessarily need the same support of a big time underwriter. So, it's no surprise to hear that they're at least considering the idea of a Dutch auction IPO sometime early next year. It does fit with Google's general nature, and could do wonders for those who believe in Dutch auctions as a much more equitable way of doing an IPO. Chances are it would make Google a lot more money, too, since it would cut their underwriting costs, and make sure that the deal wasn't underpriced - meaning Google gets the money that otherwise would have been thrown away to those flipping the stock on the first day. Still, the investment banks wooing Google probably are scared of this idea (they'll make less money, and won't be able to give their "friends" the favors they surely want) and will try to do whatever they can to convince them otherwise. techdirt.com
