lorenzinho2 - 11:10 pm on Oct 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Couple of thoughts:

- An online IPO is a brilliant match for Google. They save the 8% (?) brokerage fee to have a bank take them out, and with one fell swoop, transform millions of Google users into millions of Google owners.

- They should do this next week. From reading and participating in these boards and working in the industry, Google is (mildly?) broken. SEO's, WebMasters, Bloggers - are combining to manipulate Googles search results. We've all seen the examples. It won't be long until this news reaches the public, the public overreacts, and Google's projected market cap gets decimated. I have no doubt that the sudden IPO mention is linked to growing issues with PR and the like. Raising $20B would allow Google to throw a lot of cash at their issues, and with the brains that they have over there, most likely buy some more time.