When Google went public, there was a lot of commentary. Here is how I weighed in.

I think the financial industry has turned a new chapter. I might even go so far as to hope that a new breed of honest analysts and bankers is upon us. Gone (hopefully for good) are the dark days of the post-go-go years. There are three ways that the Google IPO is significant.

First, we have validation that the days are over in which investment bankers view themselves as above the law, and can dictate terms to their nascent public companies.

Second, given the already superheated hype of this offering, the company has decided to capture more of the revenue from its initial offering by holding an auction for the right to own shares.

The third interesting angle of the Google IPO is how the company has created two classes of shares: one for its executives, and one for the rest of us. The commoners’ shares are diluted, meaning that the insiders retain a tremendous control on the company, even for a public company.

You can read the entire essay here.