dmorison - 8:14 pm on Oct 4, 2003 (gmt 0)

I think they've been dishing out pre-IPO stock options as part of their package; so they're more or less obliged to at some point (I suppose there's nothing stopping them making an offer to their employees to buy back the options for a handsome sum, but that could get ugly).

I suspect the hype is something that troubles Google also, never mind you and me. The tech. media are going to absolutely bananas over this; creating an environment of expectation and volatility that no company would wish to go public into.