Google may delay its highly anticipated $3.3 billion initial public offering (IPO) by about a week as the search engine waits for more fund managers to bid on the shares, a source said.
The delay came after Google spooked investors by disclosing it may have illegally issued shares worth as much as $3.1 billion to current and former employees.
But the source said the legal hitch did not cause the delay in the initial public offering, which was expected to happen as soon as next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Fund managers had already balked at the price range for the IPO, $108 to $135 a share. At the high end, the six-year-old company would be valued at 329 times its 2003 earnings, more than twice the ratio of its biggest rival, Yahoo!, and about 15 times the valuation of the average stock in the broad S&P 500 index.
Google is using a Dutch auction process for the IPO, and bidders may register at http://www.ipo.google.com.
Google and its underwriters will determine the highest price at which there is demand for all shares, and price the shares at or below that price.