Google Inc., filed to raise as much as $2.72 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) that will give the company more funding to compete against Yahoo, Microsoft and others focuing on the search engine, online advertising and browser industries.
Google chose Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston to manage the initial public offering, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing. According to Bloomberg, the Google filing sets the stage for the biggest U.S. Internet initial public offering, four years after the technology stock- bubble burst.
Company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page last year propelled Google past Yahoo as the most-used search engine. That success will create a windfall for early Google backers such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.
“When it hits the marketplace, it’s going to be like a big boulder in the pond,” David Menlow, president of research firm IPOFinancial.com in Milburn, New Jersey, said in an interview before the filing. “I think it will bring more people into the Internet type of public offerings.”
Google disclosed its earnings and revenue for the first time ever now that it was forced to go public, showing that last year it earned net income of $105.6 million on revenue of $961.9 million. According to today’s filing, Google plans to list its shares on either the Nasdaq National Market or New York Stock Exchange.
Google, which has alwaysresisted going public, faced a deadline to report financial results by April 29. An SEC rule requires that when companies surpass more than 500 shareholders, including employees granted stock options, and $10 million in assets, they must start disclosing results within 120 days after the end of the year.
