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Google cofounders Larry Page (bottom) and Sergey Brin are seen at company headquarters in Mountai

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By choosing to run its initial public offering as an auction, Google Inc. – developers of the online search engine – is giving students a chance they would not have had otherwise.

Unlike traditional tech initial public offerings, where shares tend to only be available to friends, family and select clients of the underwriters, Google’s shares will be available to anyone willing to spend the money.

Interested individuals quote the maximum price they are willing to pay as well as the number of shares they would like to purchase, and, once the bids have been received, Google will decide on a selling price.

Though Google is not the first company to use a Dutch-style auction, it is the most high-profile one to do so.  

The thought of being among the first to hold ownership in an immensely profitable company such as Google seems to have struck a cord with potential investors worldwide – including at UCLA.

Di Huang, a third-year business economics student, plans to bid. For Huang, he said his bid has much to do with his desire to learn about financial investments and IPOs, as it is a chance to make money.

“I’m not scared of failure because I will have learned anyway,” he said, adding he expects Google to be a solid investment because of its status as the most popular Internet search engine.

“If (Google) can be so much more successful than other companies at the same thing, it seems like a secure investment,” Huang said.

Huang’s attitude of valuing education over profit might end up benefiting him, as some financial analysts see the Google IPO as risky.

With great publicity over the IPO, some investors think the hoopla might drive the price up above market value. If this happens, the price will fall soon after the IPO.

The IPO especially could be risky for single men.

“In general, research has shown that single males tend to have the worst investment returns,” said Anderson School of Management Professor Avanidhar Subrahmanyam.

“Generally speaking, they tend to be overconfident,” he added.

A frequently quoted study by UC Davis finance Professors Terrance Odean and Brad Barber found single men earned annual risk-adjusted net returns that were 2.3 percent less than single women.

Overall, single women performed better than married women, who performed better than married men. Espoused men in turn outdid bachelors.

The researchers attributed the results to the fact that men traded much more than did women.

Huang, upon hearing of the statistics, found them somewhat amusing.

“If I fail, OK. Fine. I’m bankrupt. I’m single anyway,” he said.

Many financial analysts believe Huang is exactly the type of investor Google is looking for. With the company’s decision to retain the vast majority of voting stock within top executives themselves, Google not only is preventing a hostile takeover but also seems to be trying to avoid potential investors who want to make significant changes within the company.

Google is known to the markets as having a somewhat unusual work culture, where employees enjoy an unusual amount of freedom and worktime recreational activities.

Each employee has one day a week to focus on his own pet project, and workers sometime break for roller hockey games during the day.

Some Wall Street investors have mentioned this attitude as a hindrance, but Google executives repeatedly have said they have no desire to change.

Google is, of course, also trying to make as much money as possible. IPOs traditionally earn a lot of money not only for the company but also for the banking firm underwriting the offering and those investors who have first access to stock.

If initial stock is “underpriced,” then the first group of investors who have access to the IPO – usually family, friends and trusted clients of the underwriters – can buy it at a lower price than people are willing to pay. These investors then can sell the stock the same day for a large profit.

Internet IPOs especially have been vulnerable to this trend. According to online finance publication the Daily Corante, the average Internet share price grew 65 percent on its first day of trading during the Internet boom.

Google is trying to avoid this problem by asking the market directly how much it values the shares.

“In this case Google would like every speculative dollar to get into its bank account. Google is both egalitarian and a superb capitalist,” said Anderson School Professor Gordon Klein.

“I’ve never completely understood why Dave Matthews Band or Radiohead sells its tickets at face value and then lets scalpers resell them for the true market value,” Klein added.

“Here we have a performer named Google that has cut out the middleman and captured every dollar of what the admission ticket to being an owner of Google is worth,” he said.