Gadgetopia

FlashQuotes: Google starts trading today at $85. You can monitor it at the link above.

USAToday has an article about how Google almost fumbled the whole thing and generally made themselves look like pre-bubble, late-90s, arrogant, no-business-plan-having schmucks.

Using a “Dutch auction,” Google had investors submit bids on how many shares and at what price they would be willing to buy, so it could use that information to price the IPO.

While that may have sounded good in theory, the auction and its roadshow turned out to be a messy process in which Google upset institutional and individual investors alike. The pros complained Google management wouldn’t give details on their business plans; average investors balked because the company priced the IPO out of reach of most of them. Then, to top it off, the deal hit a snag with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the 11th hour as Google appeared to run afoul of IPO regulations.