Google to make $4 billion stock offering
| A year after its initial public stock offering, Internet giant Google
said today it plans a second stock offering that could raise as much as
$4 billion.
The stock sale, announced in a filing with regulators, would dramatically boost Google's cash reserves and its ability to make high-profile acquisitions. The Mountain View company said it would sell 14.2 million shares. The timing of the sale was unknown. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston are the underwriters. ``It's not the biggest secondary offering, but it's good sized,'' said Francis Gaskins, an IPO expert. To date, Google has made mostly modest acquisitions, often of technology start-ups with just a handful of employees. In those cases, the company was seeking specialized technology or engineering expertise. But with increased competition from companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo, and ambitions to build up its business in China, Google may have larger acquisitions in mind. The company said in its filing that it was not close to making a ``material acquisition.'' But observers have speculated that Google may be interested in Chinese search engine Baidu or other companies. The company also is rumored to be buying up fiber optic networks around the country, perhaps for some type of broadband network. The move also reflects the high demand for Google's stock. Google first
sold shares to the public in August of 2004 for $85, and observers questioned
at the time whether there was enough investor demand at that price. But
since its IPO, Google's stock has surged to over $300 a share. Today,
it's trading at around $278. |