Google has stepped one step closer to its IPO, having brought live the site where investors will be able to bid for shares of the Internet search concern. Soon, investors will be able to bid on shares of GOOG and, given the expected price range, bid hefty prices indeed.
The long-awaited site has Google's trademark look about it, just like every other innovation Google releases. As we all know through our summer reading, the Dutch auction angle makes Google's IPO unique. (For more on Dutch auctions, read this commentary from longtime Foolish analyst Bill Mann.)
Last week, Fool contributor Tom Taulli eyed Google's astronomical per-share range and market cap. His contention was that when there's mania, "no price is too high" for shares of a company as popular -- and hyped -- as Google.
While I can understand that point of view -- turn the clock back five years and it was definitely the rule, not the exception -- I'm not sure I agree in this case. I doubt Google will attract the same brand of salivating investors of yesteryear.
Sure, I'm a loyal Google user, and I've been fascinated tracking ways it's grabbing more Internet real estate by providing new and improved services. (Goodness knows I've written about these moves enough!)
While I have often marveled at Google's Web savvy and questioned whether Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) knows as much about what we Internet users want as it thinks it does, foes such as Yahoo! are powerful ones indeed. (Case in point: Yahoo!'s recent acquisition of Oddpost made me think twice.) People don't often accuse Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) of being particularly nimble, but they do accuse it of entering markets and putting the squeeze on rivals, which it plans to do with search.
Despite the undeniable emotional appeal of Google, I sincerely wonder who the big spenders are who will shell out for a piece of Google at a projected market cap of $29-$36 billion. Is no price too high? Despite the old saying, "How soon they forget," I feel the high market caps of many flamed-out IPOs gone by likely stuck with investors; a few years of recession, and for some of us joblessness, likely cooled some "Viva Las Vegas" sentiment as well.
So when it comes to this IPO, I do wonder, "Who's gonna go for Google?" In what is expected to be a few short weeks, we're going to find out.
Read more Foolish coverage about Google:
- How Will Google Grow? by Tom Taulli
- Wall Street Ticked Off by Google, by Selena Maranjian
- Google IPO? No Thanks, by Bill Mann
Can't wait to get in on Google? Or do you think all the hype is lunacy? Discuss the upcoming IPO with other Foolish investors on the Google discussion board.
Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.
