Did Google Illegally Issue Shares?

By Ian Bell
August 05, 2004

Reuters is reporting that Google may have may have illegally issued shares potentially worth as much as $3.1 billion then offered to buy them back at a fraction of their worth.

"The legal wrangle, disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, comes ahead of Google's highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) that could raise as much as $3.3 billion and has been expected as early as next Wednesday.

The company said it sold 23.2 million shares to 1,105 current and former employees and consultants and granted an additional 5.6 million stock options to 301 people. The transactions took place between September 2001 and June 2004 and were not registered, as required by law, Google said. "