Posted on 07/12/2004 6:01:42 PM PDT by wagglebee
Google said on Monday it would list its shares on the Nasdaq stock market, ending months of speculation over whether the world's most used internet search engine would pick Nasdaq or its larger rival, the New York Stock Exchange.
The announcement, made in a regulatory filing, moves Google one step closer to completing its initial public offering.
The company would like to finish the sale by the end of this month, according to people familiar with its plans. Google announced plans for the sale, which could raise at least $2.7bn (?2.2bn), in April. At that time, the company said it had not decided whether it would list on the Nasdaq or the NYSE. The company plans to use an auction to determine what price its shares will sell at.
Winning the Google listing is a big victory for Nasdaq, whose dominance of trading in technology stocks has come under concerted attack from the NYSE. Google's likely stock market value has been estimated by some analysts at more than $40bn, a level that would turn it overnight into one of the 10 most valuable US tech companies.
Nasdaq's rise to prominence came on the back of an earlier generation of fast-growing tech companies, led by giants such as Intel and Microsoft.
However, Nasdaq's fortunes waned with the tech bust and its reputation was tarnished in the mid-1990s by a controversy over the way stocks on its market were priced.
The market has come under intense pressure from the NYSE, which has set it sights on luring away some of the big technolgy names, including using dual listings as a way to tempt tech blue chips onto the Big Board.
The choice of a market for its shares marks another sign that the hotly-anticipated Google stock offering is entering its final stages. The auction system that will be used to collect orders from would-be investors, help set the price and then allocate shares is to be tested in the coming days. The company is also still awaiting the green light from the SEC, which has to approve its prospectus before the share sale can go ahead.
Nasdaq and the Big Board, as the NYSE is known, fight for listings because they generate fees and help attract other companies to their exchanges.
The Nasdaq is the largest US electronic stock market. It lists about 3,300 companies and allows for dual listings. The NYSE has about 2,750 listed companies, but the market value of those companies dwarfs that of the Nasdaq.
Google's filing also said Charles Schwab, the discount broker, has been added as a distribution agent for Google underwriter Epoch Securities. Charles Schwab will not receive any compensation for the distribution of Google securities, the filing said.
IN a related matter..the fact that Google chose the NASDAQ may well be the final push to get MSFT to cross over to the Big Boards..which has been holding the "M" open ..Has Google chosen its ticker symbol?
I don't think they'll ever go public. Look at all the free publicity they've gotten the past two years.
???
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