With an estimated 22 million shares changing hands, Google reached a total valuation of $27.7 billion. Many market watchers likened the Google stock frenzy to the beginning of the dot-com technology boom in 1999.
The distinctly untraditional IPO was underwritten by Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley and was modeled after what is known as a "Dutch auction," which made shares available to a larger swath of investors, beyond the usual large investment firms that typically get first pick.
While Google's IPO was anticipated with alternating waves of hype and skepticism, financial analysts said that Google's stock market debut was more popular than expected and overshadowed the likes of search engine rivals Yahoo, which last traded at $28 per share, Microsoft, at $27.10, and other fellow leading technology companies like Amazon.com and eBay.
"Those who doubted Google might have a little bit of egg on their face," Richard Peterson, chief market strategist for Thomson Financial, told Reuters. "Sitting on the sidelines might prove perilous if this company is like eBay and Amazon, companies that kept rising after they established a foothold."
According to reports, options trading on Google shares are expected to begin next Friday on five U.S. exchanges.
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin started the company in 1998 and have quickly risen to dominate the Internet search industry, with Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN close on their heels. Google claims to have 4 billion web pages in its index.
Thursday's IPO made Page and Brin wealthy men on paper. Page reportedly made $41.1 million and Brin got $40.9 million, with more to come, according to analysts, who say they could each bring home an additional $3 billion in company stock.
Google catapulted its profitability margins by wedding text advertising with search results, a formula that was swiftly copied by numerous other search entities.
Over the past year, Google has launched shopping search site Froogle, a Google News feature, and the controversial free email service Gmail.
