Google Must IPO

“Ultimately, an obscure securities rule seems likely to override any possible second thoughts about a Google IPO.

A 70-year-old regulation requires privately held companies with more than 500 security holders of record and $10 million in assets to open their books within 120 days of the end of the fiscal year in which they crossed the reporting thresholds.

Having awarded stock options to most of its 1,000-plus employees, Google is believed to have triggered the rule last year, giving the company until Thursday to shine a light on its finances for the first time.

Google theoretically could just file an annual report for 2003 without pursuing an IPO, but most observers seem to think that strategy would make little sense. That's because Google would encounter all the compliance headaches of a public company, incurring millions in annual expenses, without reaping any of the financial benefits. “ [1]

[1] http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,63241,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7