Google's long-awaited online share auction began this morning. The auction precedes the search giant's shares being traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange; trading is expected to begin next week.
The
auction began at 9 a.m. EST today-Friday, the 13th. Here's how the online auction works: Shares will trade based on the best price garnered from the auction, which is only open to bidders who signed
up before yesterday's deadline on Google's IPO Web site.
The search giant is looking to sell 25.7 million shares for a price between $108 and $135 per share. All eyes will be tracking the
progress of this process, and whether Google can hit the upper reaches of its estimates.
Google's IPO has suffered setbacks in recent days as market enthusiasm dampened, and other planned IPOs
were postponed or cancelled (Claria Corp. and PlanetOut). Other snafus included a last-minute settlement with Yahoo! over a patent issue, share buyback issues, and the latest, an interview with
Google's founders in Playboy magazine, which may have violated SEC rules with regard to the quiet period prior to an IPO.
Google's IPO could be a watershed if it goes as planned. The IPO
represents nearly nine percent of Google's cash. If the share price hits the $135 mark, the IPO could generate more than $30 billion dollars.
The Olympic Games open tonight. But Google's IPO
might as well be "the" opening event of an ongoing duel between Yahoo!, MSN, and any up and comers strong enough to take them all on. Let the games begin.