Google Wins Fans With IPO Gains

If you say you're going to sell your old car for $12,000, and you end up selling it for $8,000, are you a success or a failure?

That's one of the questions worth mulling over in the wake of Google's (GOOG Quote) public offering of stock last week.

The company didn't reap all the money that it originally indicated it would. And, judging by the 18% rise in Google on its first day of trading, it didn't get the full amount for its shares that a freely trading, liquid market would bear.

But, say people who observed the company's IPO process from different angles, Google did all right for itself, for its new shareholders and for others as well. ...