Google goes public, shares up 20% on first day

Shares of Google surged nearly 20% on their first day of public trading as the quirky Internet firm completed its much-hyped IPO.

In the most highly anticipated Wall Street debut since the heady days of the dot-com boom, shares of Google surged nearly 20 per cent on their first day of public trading as the quirky Internet company completed its much-hyped initial stock offering.

Despite the first-day jump on Thursday, the debut generated much less money than the company envisioned after it launched an unorthodox auction designed to open the stock beyond large investors who typically get first crack at new stock issues.

Google shares finished the day at $100.34, up 18 per cent, and the stock offering raised $1.67 billion. The company originally hoped to open at between $108 and $135, generating as much as $3.6 billion and making the company worth up to $36 billion.

'If it's not a failure, it clearly didn't work the way Google's management intended it,' said portfolio manager for the First American Technology Fund, Barry Randall.

Still, Google had a market value of $27.2 billion after its first day of public trading -- on par with General Motors Corp.