Google Up in Market Debut After Bumpy IPO

By Nicole Maestri and Reed Stevenson

NEW YORK/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Google Inc. shares made their long-awaited stock market debut on Thursday, rising sharply to $100 after an initial public offering marked by missteps and lackluster market conditions.

Google co-founder Larry Page and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, guarded tightly by security, were at the Nasdaq stock market's broadcasting facility in Manhattan as the Web's most popular search engine began trading as a public company.

After ending its unconventional auction to price and sell the shares on Wednesday, Google sold 19.6 million shares at $85 each, raising $1.67 billion, the biggest IPO so far by an Internet company.

The shares ended trade at $100.34, up $15.34, or 18 percent. Trade ranged from a high of $104.06 to a low of $95.96.

Google shares dipped slightly in after-hours trade after Nasdaq closed, to $100.02, but analysts expected the shares to be well supported in the weeks ahead as buyers who missed out on the auction place bids.

"There were a fair amount of institutional buyers that stayed out the auction but came in (today)," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst at Janco Partners. "I see a floor in the $90s."

Workers at Googleplex, the glassy corporate complex in Silicon Valley, waved off reporters' questions about their big payday as they showed up for work on a cool Thursday morning. Local businesses reported that some of Google's 2,300 employees had been shopping recently for new cars and toys.

Google, however, did not fetch the price it had initially targeted for its IPO. On Wednesday, Google slashed the expected price range on the shares to between $85 and $95, down from a previous range of $108 to $135. It also cut the number of shares offered to 19.6 million from 25.7 million.

One fund manager said the lowered price might invigorate investor interest. He said he might buy Google shares in the next few days, depending on how they performed.

"At $108 to $135 a share, it was too expensive," said Douglas Wright, a portfolio manager for Britannic Asset Management in Edinburgh, Scotland. "But now we have a much more comfortable valuation."