8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NATION
THURSDAY, AUGUST 19,2004
Google gets SEC approval for initial public offering
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Securities and Exchange Commission granted final approval yesterday to the paperwork required for Google Inc.'s initial public offering, paving the way for the Internet search giant to set a price for its shares and begin selling them after several stumbles and a last-minute downward revision on the size of the offering.
Investors who bid above the selling price will only pay the pershare IPO price. If there's demand for more than the company's 19.6 million shares, successful bidders may get just a percentage of what they requested.
shares will be allocated.
With the price then set and initial shares sold, stock could trade as early as Thursday morning under the symbol "GOOG" on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
arrogant and reckless since it began the IPO process four months ago.
Despite reducing the number of shares to be sold to 19.6 million from 25.7 million and cutting its estimated price range by nearly a third, the offering is one of the biggest and highly anticipated for an Internet company, surpassing the hot issues of the dot-com boom.
Before trading begins, the company and its underwriters must close the unusual auction that's being used to set the share price of the initial sale. After that, winning bidders will be notified and
Its prospectus indicates that Google still faces regulatory questions. In one case, it said the SEC "has requested additional information concerning the publication" of an interview of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page that appeared in September's issue of Playboy magazine. That was a potential violation of the SEC's rules against talking publicly before an IPO about information that is not included in the prospectus.
Google anticipates its shares will be priced between $85 and $95 each, down from an earlier estimate of between $108 and $135.
It could raise $1.86 billion. If the stock trades at the high end of Google's range, it would have a market capitalization of about $25.8 billion, down from the earlier figures as high as $36 billion.
But the bumpy IPO process has created several clouds over the company that has been criticized for being too idealistic,
Google also has admitted that the agency has launched an informal inquiry into its issuance of millions of pre-IPO shares and options without registering them.
The auction — another source of controversy — was supposed to democratize the IPO process, which is usually limited to investors connected to investment banks.
Storm leaves elderly vulnerable
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SARASOTA, Fla. — The devastation brought on Hurricane Charley has been especially painful for an elderly population that is among the largest in the nation.
State officials fear that many frail and aging residents have been left susceptible to illness and are going without important medication because of the hurricane, while others have been too stubborn to leave their damaged homes.
The situation has government and private agencies scrambling to get the elderly to air-conditioned places where they can
receive their medicine, oxygen and even entertainment.
The state has processed more than 250 people through a temporary shelter for older people at Robarts Arena at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds.
people older than 65, and the county was especially hard-hit by last week's hurricane. The storm killed 20 people in Florida, and more than 400,000 people remained without power Wednesday.
They came from nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and private homes in the affected counties.
"We've responded to a lot of hurricanes," said Jennifer Bencie Fairburn, a doctor with the Florida Department of Health. "But this is really a unique situation because of the population in Charlotte County."
Charlotte County has the nation's largest percentage of
at the Gulf Breeze federal housing project in Punta Gorda, housing authority director Jean Farino has been trying all week to persuade Mary Foster to leave her roof-damaged apartment.
"I'm not leaving unless the law comes and hogies and takes me," the 62-year-old disabled woman gasped as her cat, Tom, cowered beneath the coffee table. "If I had a family, I'd be with them, believe me."
THURS
Iraqi civ city of N
NA cleric a pea disar them reven resol many and t fledg
Bu
dicte
and a
want
deal
betwi
troo
ann
fere
sent
with
T more that mile