by Matthieu Demeestere
NEW YORK, Aug 19 (AFP) - Google Inc. shares soared in a hectic launch on the Nasdaq Thursday, a spectacular comeback from the humiliation of its cut-price initial public offering (IPO).
Google, making the biggest Internet float since the 1990s technology bubble, soared 21.2 percent to 103.00 dollars in the first hour, valuing the entire company at 28 billion dollars.
More than 12 million shares changed hands as the price bumped around, hitting a high of 104.06 dollars.
The debut defied the grimmest predictions of an opening Google slide, instead offering a glimpse of the halcyon days of the Internet bubble, before it turned into a "tech wreck" four years ago.
"It has obviously captured some imaginations," said Wachovia Securities strategist Larry Wachtel.
"I don't know that it turns the market on. I don't know that the stock goes to the moon. I think people are very hesitant about chasing anything in this kind of market," he said.
"I think they priced it right. They got it down to a level where the stock was reasonable and so it got bid up by professionals and the public likes it also."
Google Inc. had to slash the IPO price to 85 dollars a share after an auction revealed muted interest. It initially had hoped to get as much as 135 dollars a share.
By offering 19.6 million shares to the public, the California-based company and its original stake holders raised about 1.66 billion dollars, about half of the 3.47 billion they originally aimed for.
Google is close in total market value to century old car maker Ford (26 billion dollars), but trails behind its biggest competitor Yahoo (39 billion dollars) and online auction service eBay (53 billion dollars).
Its search engine is the world's most used, running 200 million searches a day. Google also licenses its technology to scores of companies, including Internet service provider America Online.
Its information base includes some four billion Web pages. It can search in 97 languages and has a bigger user base outside the United States than within.
For Wall Street, however, Google's innovation has come in what is known as paid search listings -- or keyword advertising -- allowing an advertiser to direct an ad to a Web user based on the type of search conducted.
Founded in 1998 by computer whiz kids Sergey Brin, 30, and Larry Page, 31, Google ran into some trouble on the way to its IPO.
It made headlines last week when the co-founders laid bare corporate details in an interview with Playboy magazine.
The group believes the splash, entitled "Playboy Interview: Google Guys," abided by securities regulations, which restrict information released ahead of an IPO.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has not ruled out action against Google and has requested additional information on the magazine interview, Google had said.