Google to list on Nasdaq

INTERNET search engine firm Google has shunned overtures by the New York Stock Exchange, and announced that its long-awaited $2.7bn (£1.5bn) initial public offering will take place on Nasdaq, the world's second-largest exchange.

Analysts had anticipated that founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page would choose Nasdaq as a reflection of its greater tech focus, although the decision is still a blow to the Big Board and a coup for its younger rival.

The NYSE response was phlegmatic. 'Google is an outstanding company with a great management team, and we wish the company well with its initial public offering,' it said in a statement.

Nasdaq was playing it equally cool. Spokeswoman Bethany Sherman said the market 'typically does not comment on pending IPOs'. But there is no doubt that Google's decision is a relief for Nasdaq which has seen its fortunes fall since the bursting of the dotcom bubble. Securing the listing was vital for the exchange psychologically.

Nevertheless, the Nasdaq was always the most likely vehicle for Google, which will sit alongside some of the sector's biggest names including Yahoo, Microsoft, Intel and Cisco Systems.

'It's pretty well established for a technology company to be listed on Nasdaq,' George Sarlo, co-founder and a partner at WaldenVC, a venture capital firm, told reporters.

'I would have been surprised, actually, if they had listed on the New York Stock Exchange.'

If, as expected, the company sells $2.7bn of stock it would become the Nasdaq's second-largest IPO after cable TV provider Charter Communications.

The company did not specify a date for its IPO, although it is expected to be in late summer or early autumn. Some reports have even suggested it may want the process completed as early as this month.

The IPO, which was announced in April, takes the unusual form of a public online Dutch auction, instead of allowing institutional investors to determine the price. The company has kept a low profile throughout the process and has imposed strict rules of secrecy on its bankers but has said that the auction could be completed and shares allocated within two hours of SEC go-ahead,.

In the most recent filing, Google gave more details about the auction process, saying that bidders would have to reconfirm their bids if more than 15 business days elapsed since they were submitted or if there was a material change in the prospectus that required it to be recirculated.

Unconfirmed bids would be disregarded and 'deemed to have been withdrawn', the filing said.