washingtonpost.com: Is Google Fumbling Its IPO?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Summarized by OS X

The biggest tech IPO in five years, the one that was supposed to mark  
the technology sector's return to good graces, looks like it might have  
hit what one could optimistically call a "snag" -- and several  
headlines today do just that.

...First, the, uh, technical problem, as reported by the Financial  
Times: "The timetable for Google's initial public offering may be  
extended by at least a few days due to administrative delays, people  
familiar with the situation said.

...Google's offering, which a few months ago was generating excitement  
for its potential to reinvigorate the market for technology stocks, is  
now facing increasing skepticism from investors big and small who see  
the company's price targets as too expensive and the auction as too  
cumbersome.

...And if generating interest from the deep pockets wasn't enough of a  
challenge, turns out Google is mismanaging the whole pre-IPO process --  
You know, that little detail about the 23.2 million shares that Google  
failed to properly register with the Securities and Exchange  
Commission?

...As The Washington Post reported, "In its latest filing with the SEC  
late Wednesday, Google disclosed that it may have violated numerous  
laws by illegally issuing 23.2 million shares of its stock, and nearly  
6 million stock options, to hundreds of consultants and company  
employees without first registering the shares properly with state and  
federal authorities....  However, a senior company executive and a  
major shareholder have indicated they do not intend to sell their  
shares back to Google under the proposal, and the company said  
consultants and other employees also could reject its offer as too  
cheap and file lawsuits against the company instead, according to SEC  
filings."

The New York Times quoted Robert Clarkson, a partner in the Menlo Park,  
Calif., office of law firm Jones Day, as saying that such a violation  
is "not uncommon," and that it shouldn't get in the way of the  
offering.

...After quoting an expert who says that Google's initial stock  
performance probably will resemble an erratic EKG, Forbes.com columnist  
Scott Reeves goes to town: "So why not launch Google's IPO the  
old-fashioned way?

..."The company's recent disclosure that it may have violated U.S.,  
federal and state law by issuing about 23 million shares to  
consultants, as well as current and former employees, adds another  
layer of risk to the IPO.

...San Francisco Chronicle columnist Kathleen Pender thinks Google's a  
great company and admires its pluck in pursuing its own course on the  
IPO, but she also says regular investors shouldn't bother.  "Last week,  
my bosses suggested that I bid on a few shares of Google, with the  
company's consent and capital, so I could write a first-person account  
of the firm's initial public offering.

...Ask Moses: "For many in Silicon Valley, their disillusionment with  
Google's approach to its stock offering includes disappointment that  
the event may not revive the high-technology stock offering market, as  
many had hoped.

...Mac Observer also said that Apple will offer similar courtesies for  
Republicans after they meet for their national convention in New York  
later this month.

People always talk about getting their 15 minutes of fame, but McAfee  
anti-virus expert Jack Clark appears to be the first to coin an  
easy-to-use term to apply it to the world of computer security.

 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45101-2004Aug6? 
language=printer>

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