Google has filed their S-1 with the SEC. Briefing.com just posted the following (emphasis is theirs... and you've gotta love the 14:42 note):
14:42 Market moves to lows of day; hearing large seller of S&Ps
Traders also talking about the 'deflationary impact' of the Google IPO auction process, saying that an efficient market doesn't work well in their line of work.
14:17 Google bidding processS-1 says: We plan to conduct this auction in five stages-Qualification; Bidding; Auction Closing; Pricing; and Allocation... When the preliminary prospectus becomes available, you will be able to obtain a unique bidder ID from a web site. Approximately x days after the date on the cover of this prospectus, all investors that have qualified to bid may submit bids indicating their interest in our offering through one of our underwriters... To submit a bid, you should contact one of the following underwriters: Morgan Stanley and CSFB. If you are interested in submitting a bid but do not currently have a brokerage account with any of the underwriters named above, you may contact one of these underwriters to inquire about opening an account and submitting a bid. Co will have the ability to reject speculative bids and bids that have the potential to manipulate or disrupt the bidding process.... Once we and our underwriters have determined the IPO price, our underwriters will begin the allocation process. All investors who have submitted and not withdrawn bids with a price that is equal to or greater than the IPO offering price will be eligible to receive an allocation of shares.
14:16 YHOO Yahoo!: Google to terminate pact with Yahoo! (54.35 -1.48)
Yahoo! moves to lows of day following statement in Google's S-1 filing that it has notified Yahoo of its election to terminate its agreement, effective July 2004. This agreement with Yahoo accounted for less than 3% of Google's net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2003 and less than 3% for the three months ended March 31, 2004.
14:08 Google IPO to be auction-based
S-1 says: The price to the public and allocation of shares will be determined primarily by an auction process. As part of this auction process, the co is attempting to assess the market demand for our Class A common stock and to set the size and price to the public of this offering to meet that demand. Buyers hoping to capture profits shortly after our Class A common stock begins trading may be disappointed.
14:05 Google FinancialsIn the most recent qtr, co earned $0.42/share (+110%) on sales of $389.64 mln (+118%).
14:01 Google Files S-1: Financial DataSales for 2003 were $961.9 mln, up from $348 mln in 2002 for a 176% increase. Q1 sales were $389.6 mln, up 118% yoy. Q1 EPS was $0.24, up vs $0.10 last year.
13:59 Google -- The long-awaited S-1 has been filed
I'll add that I think it's a very wise move on Google's part to do the IPO via an auction. This should ensure that the company raises as much money as possible, as opposed to the traditional system, where the underwriters severely under-price the offering and give all the gains to their best customers.
Here's a CBS MarketWatch article about Google's profits - Google reveals top-notch profits
And another one by the man himself, Herb Greenberg - If Google insiders sell, should you buy?
Edit to add: Jim Cramer just made some interesting comments on Google. He said that before the financials were released to the public he'd asked 8 people how much they thought Google's annual revenue would be. Not one person said over $1 Billion. He then said that the actual is 1.8 Billion. (I don't know where he came up with that number, but based on their last quarter, I come up with $1.56 Billion) He then said that Google's revenue per employee is twice that of Yahoo. And he made a point to make clear that Yahoo's number was the highest he'd ever seen. He says he expects Google to be valued at 35 Billion (the same as Yahoo right now! ) when it goes public.
$35 Billion, wow! I also heard Cramer say that if you get the IPO offering price you'll make money, but if you get the opening price, you may be screwed.
Oh and good job on the blog.
I wonder if there's any potential for this IPO failing?
I mean, I don't see any way a savvy investor makes out by getting in on day one when demand and prices are highest and supply is finite.
Furthermore, a stock on day one has zero track record. Just because it should go to the moon doesn't guarantee that it will.
I see the potential for Wall Street heavyweights to exact their revenge by talking down Google mercilessly to ensure the lowest possible auction price, then refusing to participate in the auction, confidenet that all the newbies who bought at high auction prices will shake loose of their shares at the first sign of trouble, at which time the big money players buy it up at a discount.
Put it this way: it's what I'd do if I were in the position to get away with it.
Tom,
I also see little reason to participate in the IPO or in the first weeks of trading. Now that it's an auction, I think any hopes of getting a huge gain on the IPO's open is gone. As far as how the Wall St. types will treat the stock, I wouldn't put anything past them. But I can't pretend to have any insights into what they will do. So I have to fall back to jusat letting it trade for a while and going with the trend.