Uk investors are in effect being barred from taking part in the $2.7bn (£1.5bn) initial public offering from Google. The company said yesterday that its flotation would be limited to American investors only.
Although the unconventional company"s stated aims include an attempt to "make the world a better place", this mantra will apply only to US investors when it comes to the IPO.
Google"s Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, said: "We have not undertaken any efforts to qualify this offering for offers to individual investors in any jurisdiction outside the US. Therefore, individual investors located outside the US should not expect to be eligible to participate in this offering."
The filing with the SEC reveals a raft of information on the company. As well as details of the auction, it also declares how much Google"s executives are paid. Google"s highest paid executive is not Sergey Brin nor Larry Page, who founded the company and were both paid $356,556 last year, but Omid Kordestani, Google"s senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations. He was paid $569,456 in 2003, including commission of $347,900.