Google Files to Sell 14.2 Million Shares

Thursday, August 18th 2005, 10:56 am

By: News On 6

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) _ Google Inc. on Thursday said it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 14.2 million shares of class A common stock, an offering worth more than $4 billion at Wednesday's closing stock price.

Shares of Google, which have more than tripled since going public a year ago, closed Wednesday at $285.10 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, giving the offering an estimated value of $4.04 billion.

In pre-market trading, Google shares slipped $9.10, or 3.2 percent, to $276. The stock made its trading debut at $85 on Aug. 19 last year, and climbed as high as $317.80 in mid-July.

Google, operator of the leading Internet search engine, said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures and possible acquisitions of other businesses or technologies.

The company, however, said it has no current agreements or commitments to any material acquisitions. Pending acquisitions, Google plans to invest the proceeds in highly liquid, investment-grade securities, according to the SEC document.

Following the stock sale, Google will have about 191.1 million class A shares outstanding. Including about 101.7 million class B shares _ of which 79 percent are held by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt _ Google's outstanding stock will total about 292.8 million shares.

Morgan Stanley & Co. and Credit Suisse First Boston are managing the proposed offering, along with underwriter Allen & Co. The underwriters have the option to purchase up to 600,000 additional class A shares to cover over-allotments.

Last year, Google earned $399.12 million, or $1.46 per share, and had revenue of $3.19 billion. As of June 30, the company held $2.95 billion in cash.