The IPOAs Google's growth started to accelerate, the question of if and when to undertake an IPO becamemore pressing. There were tw o obvious reasons fordoing an IPO—gaining access to capital and providing liquidity for early backers and the large numberof employees who had equity positions . On the otherhand, from 200 1 onward , the company was profitable,generating significant cash flows , and could internally fund its expansion. Moreover, management felt that the longer they could keep the details ofwhat was turning out to be an extraordinarily successfulbusiness model private, the better. In the end,the company's hand was forced by an obscure SECregulation that required companies that give stockoptions to employees to report as if they were publiccompany by as early as April 2004. Realizing thatthe cat would be out of the bag anyway, Google toldits employees in early-2004 that it would go public .True to form , Google flouted Wall Street traditionin the way it structured its IPO. The companydecided to auction off shares directly to the publicusing an untested and modified version of a Dutchauction, which starts by asking for a high price andthen lowers it until someone accepts. Two classes ofshares were created, Class A and B; Class B's shareshad 10 times the votes of Class A shares. Only ClassA shares were auctioned. Brin, Page and Schmidtwere holders of Class B shares. Consequently, althoughthey would own 1/3 of the company after theIPO, they would control 80 % of the votes. Googlealso announced that it would not provide regular financialguidance to Wall Street financial analysts. Ineffect, Google had thumbed its nose at Wall Street.The controversial nature of the IPO, however,was overshadowed by the first public glimpse ofGoogle's financials, which were contained in theoffering document. They were jaw dropping . Thecompany had generated revenues of $1.47 billion in2003, an increase of 230 % over 2002. Google earnednet profits of $106 million in 2003, but accountantssoon figured out that the number was depressed bycertain one time accounting items and that cash flowin 2003 had been over $500 million !Google went publi con August 19, 2004 at $85a share. The company's first quarterly report showedsales doubling over the prior year, and by Novemberthe price was $200.In September 2005, with the stock close to $300a share, Google undertook a secondary offering, selling14 million shares to raise $4.18 billion . With positivecash flow adding to this , by June 2008 Googlewas sitting on $12.8 billion in cash and short-terminvestments, prompting speculation as to the company'sstrategic intentions .
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