Google shares up 1,000 per cent a decade after IPO
A decade ago yesterday, just three years after the dot-com crash, a Silicon Valley search startup called Google debuted on the Nasdaq for $85 a share.
Shares, priced at the low end of Google’s $85 to $95 range, jumped 18 per cent during the first day of trading to $100.34, valuing the company at over $23bn (£13.8bn) and raising $1.67bn.
“Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one,” said co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in a letter to new shareholders.
Indeed the initial public offering was anything but conventional as Google insisted on using a controversial Dutch auction method to price its shares. Traders had to enter bids for the number of shares they wanted to purchase as well as the price they would pay. Shares were then given to the top offers on down until all the stock was sold.
“We see several risks to its valuation, which may mean the stock ultimately trades at a discount to its peers,” said SIG analyst Marianne Wolk at the time.
After the first year, Google’s stock had doubled in price, and now, a decade on, the search giant trades up 980 per cent at $597 a share.