Two Years Ago, All Eyes Were On Google IPO, Including SEC's
Ahead of its initial public offering two years ago, Google Inc. tackled queries on wiretapping, an interview published during its quiet period, how it carried out its unprecedented share auction and other prickly issues raised by regulators ahead of its blockbuster IPO.</br></br>The press-shy company also agreed to disclose America Online as a big part of its distribution network and defended its practice of awarding stock options before going public, according to documents reviewed by MarketWatch, an online financial-news site owned by Dow Jones & Co. Inc., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.</br></br>Overall, the documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the most closely watched IPO of its generation drew a careful review from Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers down to the wire before Google made its debut on Aug. 19, 2004, at $85 a share, raising $1.66 billion.</br></br>"Google absolutely came under more scrutiny than a lot of IPOs," said Frederick D. Lipman, a partner at securities-law firm Blank Rome LLP and an expert on IPOs. "It was a high-profile company, and the SEC was aware of that."</br></br>Since the IPO, the stock price has quadrupled, and Google continues to draw praise from Wall Street to Main Street. In 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading Friday, Google fell $2.44, or 0.6%, to $383.36 a share. The stock traded at a 52-week high of $475.11 in January and at a 52-week low of $273.35 last August.