Google: 'We did it our way'

With their Midas-touch image tarnished over their controversial initial public offering, Google's founders have this to hold on to - they pulled off their IPO, and they did it their way.

Sinatra would have been proud.

In the end, Google was able to launch its offering, despite the informal inquiry the US Securities and Exchange Commission conducted into the company's stock options, the high-profile article in Playboy magazine, a shrinking deal size and IPO price and investor anger over two classes of stock and a lack of guidance on future financial performance.

Despite those handicaps, Google and selling shareholders raised $1.66bn - making it among the largest IPOs in history - and the stock climbed 18 per cent in the debut to close slightly above $100.

Bruce Lupatkin, a general partner at money management firm Hangar Four Partners, said: "The news is: They got the deal done. And it's definitely successful. Any time a stock trades up from the offering on the day of the IPO, by my measure, it's a success."

Lupatkin said investment bankers get nervous when a stock trades down on debut, because investors sometimes take that as a sign that the stock is "broken."

"So, if I wear my investment-banking hat, it was perfectly executed at the end, despite the other wiggles and waggles," he said. "If I wear my investor's hat, time will tell if it was successful."

Dawn Kawamoto writes for News.com