Mon. Jul 26, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc., the world's No. 1 Web search provider, on Monday said its highly anticipated initial public offering would be worth as much $3.3 billion and could have an initial market capitalization as high as $36.25 billion.

Google also reported that second-quarter profit rose 24 percent from the first quarter.

About 24.6 million shares would be sold in the IPO for between $108 and $135 apiece, according to an amended prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mountain View, California-based Google plans to sell 14.1 million shares, while another 10.5 million would be sold by stockholders. It has received approval to list its Class A common stock on Nasdaq under the symbol "GOOG" (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) .

The company plans to use net proceeds, estimated to be $1.66 billion, for general corporate purposes. It will not receive any proceeds from shares sold by selling stockholders.

Google said second-quarter earnings rose to $79.1 million from $64 million in the first quarter. Revenue jumped 7.5 percent to $700.2 million from $651.6 million, according to the prospectus.

Operating income increased to $171 million from $155.3 million in the first quarter, according to the filing.

A group of 28 underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston, will have the option to buy another 3.7 million Class A shares in the IPO. RBC Capital Markets Corp. and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey were no longer listed as underwriters of the offering.

Among selling stockholders, Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) America Online unit and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) both plan to sell 10 percent of their stakes in the IPO, including 743,745 shares by AOL and 549,888 by Yahoo, according to the prospectus.

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page will each own about 16 percent of Google's voting power after the offering. Brin plans to sell 962,226 shares, and Page is expected to sell 964,830 shares in the IPO.

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