Google vs. Amazon

Google and Amazon.com going public

Google is an American multinational corporation that provides Internet-related products and services, including Internet search, cloud computing, software and advertising technologies.

The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1996. Together, Brin and Page own about 16% of the company stake.

Google’s initial public offering (IPO) took place on August 19, 2004, due to the fact that Brian and Page accepted $25 million from Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital.

At that time Larry and Sergey agreed to work together at Google for 20 years, until the year 2024. The company offered 19.605.052 shares at a price of $85 per share. Shares were sold in a unique online auction format using a system built by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, underwriters for the deal.

The sale of $1,67 billion gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion. The vast majority of the 271 million shares remained under the control of Google and many Google employees became instant paper millionaires.

Some people speculated that Google’s IPO would inevitably lead to changes in company culture. As a reply to this concern, co-founders Sergey and Larry promised to potential investors that the IPO would not change the company’s culture based on an anti-corporate, no evil philosophy.

In August of 2004, Google Inc. made its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) after nearly 6 years as a privately held company. Even under normal circumstances, the IPO of a company like Google would have drawn considerable investors and media interest.

This IPO, however, would become one of the most talked about in recent history because Google stayed true to its roots as an innovative company and chose to conduct an auction to sell its shares. Google decided to shun the typical process of IPO via an investment bank in favor of a modified Dutch auction.

Doing an IPO allows companies to raise money to expand or pay off debts, and their owners...