The Program for Financial Studies
It was Thursday, August 19, 2004, and after months of anticipation, trading of Google stock would finally begin this morning on the NASDAQ. Google offered a total of 19,605,052 Class A shares using a "modified" Dutch auction initial public offering (IPO), including 14,142,135 floated by Google and 5,462,917 from existing stockholders, at a price range of $85-$95 per share. You have been charged with advising ReidCourt LLC as to whether it should bid to purchase Google shares in the IPO, and if so, at what price(s).