Nanosized Investor Interviewed By The New York Post About Google

Gerald Thurman (GDT) received an email message from a business reported at the New York Post who was doing a story on Google and its stock. Via the web, he discovered that GDT owned two shares in Google and he wanted to chat with me about my investment.

He called GDT at his SCC office and they chatted for about twenty minutes about Google and investing. He ended up using only one quote from Thurman: "I wish I had bought more."

It is only appropriate that GDT's singleton quote appears in a story titled: "Ga-Ga For Google." The following is copied from the story.

	"The run-up has also benefited smaller investors such as 
	 computer software programmer Dave Winer, who bought about 
	 $10,000 worth of shares in Google's IPO last year at $85.

	"I didn't get in on Apple and Microsoft, so I felt like I 
	 should get in on this one," Winer said. "My investment may 
	 eventually be worth $40 million." 

	"In March, Gerald Thurman, a 48-year-old computer instructor 
	 at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona, bought two shares 
	 of Google for $373.50 - a stake now worth $680.

	"I wish I had bought more," he said.

Ga-Ga for Google... Don Hendley sings, "first word out of baby's mouth is 'more'..." First sounds out of a baby's mouth is ga-ga. {NYPost.com::Business:: Ga-Ga For Google [free registration req'd]}

Quote.Yahoo.com:: GOOG

Exercise

1. Let's have a "winning the lottery moment" and pretend Winer's is right and that his investment in Google grows from $10,000 into $40 million. Calculate what Thurman's $373.50 investment will grow into.

2. Calculate Thurman's average cost per GOOG share.

3. Google went public at $85.00 per share. Calculate the percentage increase when GOOG shares hit $1,000 per share.

4. Let's pretend that in 2006 Google does a "2-for-1" stock split followed by "5-for-1" and "10-for-1" stock splits in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Calculate how many shares Thurman will own.

5. Calculate the value of Thurman's Google investment if the price of GOOG shares fall to their IPO price.

Creator: Gerald D. Thurman [gdt@deru.com]
Created: 22 October 2005