Online search engine Google may be on the verge of pursuing an initial public offering.
An obscure Security and Exchange Commission rule requires privately-held companies to open up their books after reaching a certain size.
That means the Mountain View-based company may be forced to file its I-P-O papers next week.
If the company files its papers, it will end months of speculation about how much the business is worth.
Industry observers have estimated Google´s value to be between 12 billion dollars and 20 billion dollars.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 4:30 pm