Google shares ended higher Thursday on the first day on which company employees were able to sell their stock in the Internet search engine.
A total of 4.7 million shares are available for sale today, with a further 39 million available in November and another 177 million in February.
Google shares (GOOG: news, chart, profile) closed up $1.26, or 1.3 percent, at $101.51 in volume of 7.51 million. Since Google stock started trading on August 19, volume has averaged 4.1 million shares per day.
On August 27, Yahoo sold 2.3 million shares of Google for $82.62 each, generating proceeds of $191 million. The shares were part of Google's IPO on Aug. 19, according to a Yahoo spokesman. See full story.
The Internet search engine priced its initial public offering at $85 a share. On its first day of trading, the company's stock soared 18 percent to close above $100.
Google offered a total of 19.6 million shares, down from an initial offering of $25.7 million after a cool reception from investors, regulatory problems and a poor market for Internet stocks.
Friday, September 03, 2004
Thursday, September 02, 2004
IPO: Forbes.com: Google Poised to Lift Selling Restrictions
Forbes.com: Google Poised to Lift Selling Restrictions: "Google Inc.'s employees and other insiders will be free to sell an additional 4.67 million shares of the company's stock Thursday, providing another test of the online search engine's popularity with investors. "
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
E-Commerce News: Personal Tech: On the Web, Branding Is Back
E-Commerce News: Personal Tech: On the Web, Branding Is Back: "Brand advertising is an altogether different animal than paid search and other types of online pitches. It's back in vogue primarily because of the Internet's endless expansion. At the same time that the Web audience is getting bigger and broader, the TV audience is becoming more fragmented even as the costs of TV spots are going up. Add in the speedy adoption of broadband , which makes viewing TV-like ads online a better experience than on slo-mo dialups, and brand-building has a new mass audience to target.
Companies such as Unicast Communications are making this easier. The New York-based outfit launched a product in the first quarter of 2004 that allows video ads to load quickly and run smoothly, regardless of the end user's connection. It also permits interactive features to be included with the pitch. In Honda's ads, for instance, viewers can look up different car colors. The technology is being used in some 90 campaigns on sites including ESPN.com, Reuters.com, Weather.com, and E! Online, says Allie Favarino, senior vice-president at Unicast.
Branding's comeback is also due to the overall surge in online advertising. Year-over-year, it was up nearly 40 percent in the first quarter of 2004, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2003, online ad revenues reached $7.3 billion, up from $6 billion in 2002. In fact, 2003 represented the first four quarters of consecutive revenue increases since 1999...
Perhaps the biggest indicator of growing demand for brand ads is an increase in prices. The cost of brand ads on portals has jumped 68 percent year-over-year, while entertainment sites have seen spikes as high as 90 percent, according to Jeff Lanctot, vice-president for media at Avenue A, an online advertising agency. Lanctot notes that many of the spaces being offered at higher prices are larger and more media-rich, so advertisers are getting more bang-for-the-buck for those increased dollars.
The big question is whether this will boost the fortunes of Web sites beyond Yahoo, MSN, and the other big portals. In its second quarter, CNET Networks, which operates tech news and product-review sites, cited branding as a potential growth area -- but not one that's moving the needle yet, according to Jupiter's Stein. Yahoo is fond of pointing out that 14 percent of all media consumption in the U.S. is over the Internet, but it's getting only 3 percent of all advertising dollars. Yahoo and its competitors hope that number can climb to around 8 percent to 12 percent pretty fast.
But not all inequities are so easily ironed out. Such sites might do well to consider that while more mature mediums like cable TV and satellite represent more than half of viewing hours, they still get only about 28 percent of TV ad dollars. If rich-media ads don't grow as expected, Yahoo, MSN, and others may need to find a fresh growth engine to take over where paid search is leaving off."
Companies such as Unicast Communications are making this easier. The New York-based outfit launched a product in the first quarter of 2004 that allows video ads to load quickly and run smoothly, regardless of the end user's connection. It also permits interactive features to be included with the pitch. In Honda's ads, for instance, viewers can look up different car colors. The technology is being used in some 90 campaigns on sites including ESPN.com, Reuters.com, Weather.com, and E! Online, says Allie Favarino, senior vice-president at Unicast.
Branding's comeback is also due to the overall surge in online advertising. Year-over-year, it was up nearly 40 percent in the first quarter of 2004, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2003, online ad revenues reached $7.3 billion, up from $6 billion in 2002. In fact, 2003 represented the first four quarters of consecutive revenue increases since 1999...
Perhaps the biggest indicator of growing demand for brand ads is an increase in prices. The cost of brand ads on portals has jumped 68 percent year-over-year, while entertainment sites have seen spikes as high as 90 percent, according to Jeff Lanctot, vice-president for media at Avenue A, an online advertising agency. Lanctot notes that many of the spaces being offered at higher prices are larger and more media-rich, so advertisers are getting more bang-for-the-buck for those increased dollars.
The big question is whether this will boost the fortunes of Web sites beyond Yahoo, MSN, and the other big portals. In its second quarter, CNET Networks, which operates tech news and product-review sites, cited branding as a potential growth area -- but not one that's moving the needle yet, according to Jupiter's Stein. Yahoo is fond of pointing out that 14 percent of all media consumption in the U.S. is over the Internet, but it's getting only 3 percent of all advertising dollars. Yahoo and its competitors hope that number can climb to around 8 percent to 12 percent pretty fast.
But not all inequities are so easily ironed out. Such sites might do well to consider that while more mature mediums like cable TV and satellite represent more than half of viewing hours, they still get only about 28 percent of TV ad dollars. If rich-media ads don't grow as expected, Yahoo, MSN, and others may need to find a fresh growth engine to take over where paid search is leaving off."
The Google Backlink Dance Resumes..or does it?
The Google Backlink Dance Resumes: "The Google Backlink Dance Resumes"
What's Google's Growth Strategy?
Motley Fool Ultimately, one has to argue what business is Google in? It's not search, exactly. Last year, selling advertising accounted for 97% of the company's revenues, and that figure has edged up to 98% so far this year.
So if the bulk of your intake comes from selling ads -- whether it's on paid search results, email pages, or my rent-ready forehead -- isn't Google's goal to grow the number of pages that it serves up?
Google has the traffic. It's a gift that shouldn't be squandered. Does that mean that Google should roll out online services like personals or job ads like Yahoo! has or enter the auction game to face a formidable eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY)? Should it branch out into proprietary content? I don't think that Google needs to diversify its revenue base. Paid search is a growing field. However, now that Google is a public company, it is all but mandated to forge ahead and grow. That means serving up more pages to satisfy the sponsored demand. Be the portal, Google!
Forum discussion:
So if the bulk of your intake comes from selling ads -- whether it's on paid search results, email pages, or my rent-ready forehead -- isn't Google's goal to grow the number of pages that it serves up?
Google has the traffic. It's a gift that shouldn't be squandered. Does that mean that Google should roll out online services like personals or job ads like Yahoo! has or enter the auction game to face a formidable eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY)? Should it branch out into proprietary content? I don't think that Google needs to diversify its revenue base. Paid search is a growing field. However, now that Google is a public company, it is all but mandated to forge ahead and grow. That means serving up more pages to satisfy the sponsored demand. Be the portal, Google!
Forum discussion:
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