Thursday, April 29, 2004
THE BIGGEST GODDAMN IPO EVER
So, the suspense (if you can call it that) is over. Google just announced plans for selling $2.7 billion of its stock at either the NYSE or the NASDAQ. Analysts expect Google to be valued at $20 billion or more. That would mean founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who own almost 40% of the company, are set to become billionaires several times over. Andy Bechtolsheim's $200,000 investment is expected to be worth at least $300 million. Then there is John Doerr at Kleiner, Sequoia and Yahoo, all of whom own substantial chunks of Google. Finally there are several employees led by Eric Schmidt who are all millionaires in the making.
Does this story sound familiar? Perhaps like a certain browser manufacturer called Netscape? If I remember right, Marc Andreesen was worth $6 billion on the day after Netscape's float and the company seemed invincible, until Microsoft took aim. Word is that Microsoft, which acknowledges Google's superiority for now, is now working on search technology which aims to outstrip Google in a couple years time. History about to repeat itself? At the very least, lets hope Google's float does not result in the sort of speculative bubble that arose in the wake of Netscape's IPO.
Does this story sound familiar? Perhaps like a certain browser manufacturer called Netscape? If I remember right, Marc Andreesen was worth $6 billion on the day after Netscape's float and the company seemed invincible, until Microsoft took aim. Word is that Microsoft, which acknowledges Google's superiority for now, is now working on search technology which aims to outstrip Google in a couple years time. History about to repeat itself? At the very least, lets hope Google's float does not result in the sort of speculative bubble that arose in the wake of Netscape's IPO.
