Thank God Google Did It

Thank god someone finally did it. Google told the bankers to screw off. And they are going to let the market price the deal the way the market prices stocks every day. Supply and demand will set the price. The people who will pay the highest price will get the shares. Everyone else will have to buy in the aftermarket.

Jim Cramer, who has been begging for this system for years, has a good piece up at RealMoney.com on the potential ramifications of this deal [you have to pay to read it, though].

Since most of you don't have a subscription and won't shell out for one just to read this piece (but you should), I'll quote a section from it.

But then again, the cartel of underwriters will never allow this to happen again unless the Justice Department wakes up and sees what's been happening for years. Unless the Securities and Exchange Commission realizes that Google just did its job for it. Unless Eliot Spitzer sees the Google model and says, "You know what? That's the first trust-busting idea I have ever seen happen on the Street."

Jim's a good friend of Eliot's and he will make sure Eliot pays attention to this.

Our portfolio company, Planet Out, which filed for an IPO the same day as Google, will also do an auction with WR Hambrecht, who basically invented the concept in the 90s along with Andy Klein's Wit Capital. Maybe there's a trend here. I sure hope so.

Comments

[Druce Vertes]

Hear, hear.

It's timely that the IPO comes during the retrial of an investment banker for enriching himself to the tune of $120 million a year while short-changing IPO clients, enriching friends, tainting research and advice, and generally corrupting and destroying confidence in the markets.

But an open market isn't a guarantee of common sense, or a cure for foolishness and greed (at least in the short run).

Here is one interesting counterpoint -
http://www.venturpreneur.com/weblogs/archives/000362.html

"Let's review: (1) the founders implement a dual-class capital structure to ensure that they have complete control; (2) they sell directly to retail investors; and (3) they "encourage" (read: allow) the venture capitalists to become selling stockholders...the signals point in the direction of an unhappy ending for IPO investors."

great for the company and founders and VCs, not so great for the bankers, better platform for the retail investor to jump into extremely shark-infested waters.

[Charlie Sierra]

The other nice part of the Google IPO is that the Bankers will only be getting a 3% fee.

Seeing how the auction market is doing most of the work, these seems right to me.

Nice to see you mention Bill Hambrecht, he's a true pioneer.