No IPO for Google...Yet

• Jul. 5, 2001

Despite a UK Business Report Article to the contrary, Google's not planning for an IPO in the imminent future. In an online article, Google's founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were quoted as saying that a public float could be in the plans for the near future. "The odds are that we will go public," founder Sergey Brin apparently told the Business Report. The article also reported that underwriting firms Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank were offering their services to take Google public.

However, Danny Sullivan reports in the Search Engine Report that rumours of Google's IPO appear to be greatly exaggerated. "We do expect to be profitable by the end of the year, but we're not currently meeting with bankers and we have no plans for an IPO at this time," said spokesperson Cindy McCaffrey. "I can tell you definitively that Sergey did not say anything about timing for an IPO," said McCaffrey, who sat in on the Sunday Business interview. The article mentioned the float is estimated to be $250 million.

Several industry rumours have been bubbling around Google lately, including one that search engine technology pioneer Inktomi might buy the new kid on the block. At SEP, we really hope that Google continues to go their own way. They are one of the few players in the industry who have not compromised the quality of their search service by cluttering it with paid placements from Goto.com or other pay to play search providers. The interface of Google is still clean and the results are still far more relevant than any other search portal out there.

In the article, it mentioned that analysts anticipate revenues for Google could be $50 million. Again, the source of this figures seem unclear, as Google has always remained very tight lipped about their finances. A previous article in the Financial Times could be the source, as the $50 M number and a potential market cap of $250 M were both mentioned here.