The long awaited IPO from Google finally became a reality today, the company hopes to raise as much as $2.7 billion on an unusual public offering where the number of shares that will be offered nor the range in price for those shares has been disclosed.
In an unusual provision for a technology company, Google will create two classes of shares with different voting rights, a move that aims to guarantee that founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will maintain decision-making authority. Such structures have proven beneficial in media companies, such as The New York Times, the filing states.
With the filing however, Google was on the obligation to release its financial results for the first time. The company generated $961.9 million in revenue in fiscal 2003 with a net profit of $105.6 million.