Google sold shares to the public using a Dutch auction at its initial public offering, or Google IPO, in August 2004.
Google filed for the offering in April 2004 and chose an auction-style process rather than relying entirely on a traditional investment-bank allocation. In a Dutch auction, interested buyers submit bids, and the final price is determined by the level at which enough shares can be sold. Google said the method could make the process more open and reduce the influence of selected institutional clients.
The company ultimately priced its shares at $85 each and raised about $1.67 billion. Trading began on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol GOOG. The offering valued Google at roughly $23 billion, a striking figure for a company whose main business was advertising around an internet search engine.
The phrase “Google IPO” refers to the event, not a separate company or product. Facebook, Twitter, and Netscape also had notable technology IPOs, but they used different offerings at different times.