 | News: Investors focus on last Google lockup expiry |
 Investors in Google on Friday prepared for the expiration of the last and largest wave of restrictions on insider selling, which will make 62 percent eligible for trade.
There is no guarantee of what actually will be sold, but nearly 177 million shares become unlocked on Monday.
The terms of Google's initial public offering put restrictions on insider sales for the first six months after the initial public offering as part of an attempt to avoid an immediate sell-off.
Google's shares have fallen slightly after some of the previous previous expirations, but many investors expect that the market will not be overwhelmed on Monday by massive sales from Google workers running for the virtual exits.
"It has been a pretty volatile stock," said Barry Randall, portfolio manager of the $100 million First American Technology Fund, which has a small Google stake. "I don't feel like the unlocking of shares on Monday adds materially to the risks."
Randall said he is not expecting Google's stock to make a large movement in either direction on Feb. 14.
Google shares shed 0.3 percent to close at $187.40 on the Nasdaq, off almost 6 percent from their $198.64 high this week on Tuesday. The stock debuted at $85 in mid-August.
While the market awaited the impact of the Valentine's day lockups, some insiders made sales.
John Doerr, a Google director and partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, sold about $15.3 million of Class A common shares on Tuesday, according to a recent SEC filing.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin and director Ram Shriram, an early investor, also have sold shares under a previously announced executive selling plan.
Some analysts have noted that stock-selling plans filed by key executives give previews of future sales and should reassure investors that there won't be a flood of shares hitting the market.
American Technology Research analyst Mark Mahaney said such long-term plans cover about half of the shares that would be become available for trade on Monday.
Mahaney added that the expiration could have less of an impact than the four that came earlier, in part due to the absence of first-time sellers.
Google shares fell 6 percent over the two days following the Nov. 16 expiration, when selling restrictions were lifted on 39 million shares.
The relatively short supply of Google shares available for trade, compared with other high-profile companies, has contributed to the rise in Google stock.
Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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