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NATION
5A
the battalion
Friday, May 7, 2004
Cooler weather helps corral
wildfires in Southern Calif.
By Mason Stockstill
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CORONA, Calif
Firefighters got help from cool
er weather and diminishing
winds Wednesday as they tried
to contain a trio of wildfires that
have burned more than 22,000
acres and destroyed at least 14
homes in Southern California.
Thousands of people
remained evacuated from their
homes as the two largest tires
ate up acres of grass and low-
lying scrub in Riverside County,
an inland region east of Los
Angeles. But triple-digit tem
peratures and strong wind gusts
that fanned the flames early in
the week had abated.
“1 hope the weather holds
out,” said Jane Scribner, a
spokeswoman for the California
Department of Forestry. "It real
ly does make a difference.”
Moist air expected to move in
from the Pacific could help slow
the wildfires, and temperatures
were expected to drop to the
low- to mid-8()s for the rest of
the week.
The fire season started
Monday, three weeks earlier
than last year, because of dry
weather and a tree-killing bark
Wildfires blaze on
Southern California’s wildfires
for 2004 reflect similar numbers
to those of the five-year average.
Southern California wildfire
statistics
Fires SL Acres
Jan. 1, 2004-May 2, 2004
1,572
3,518
Jan. 1,2003-May 2, 2003
970
52
Five-year average
1,118
3,869
SOURCE: California Department of AP
= orestry and Fire Protection
beetle infestation.
The 11,000-acre Cerrito Fire
still threatened about 1,000
homes and 12 commercial
buildings in the northeastern
Lake Elsinore area, about 70
miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The blaze was 30 percent con
tained early Wednesday, with
full containment expected
Friday morning, the forestry
department said.
Michael Delgado, 20, whose
Corona home was among those
threatened, said he could see
flames from his window
Tuesday night. He said he was
concerned the fire season had
begun so early.
“It seems like it’s just start
ing to get hotter, and then there
is a fire,” he said.
Authorities have charged
Richard Drew Brown, 44, with
recklessly causing the fire.
Witnesses told authorities
Brown dragged a large piece of
steel behind his vehicle, creating
sparks that started several fires
in Temescal Canyon, the
forestry department said.
An arraignment for Brown, a
self-employed handyman who
reportedly had intended to sell
the metal for scrap, was
rescheduled Wednesday to May
14. He was being held on
$25,000 bail, and could receive
up to seven years in prison if
convicted of the two felony
counts.
The 8,800-acre Eagle Fire,
south of Temecula in Riverside
County, destroyed 25 structures,
including 14 homes, officials
said. Containment was estimat
ed at 60 percent, with full con
tainment expected by Thursday
evening.
The fire was moving away
from homes and a mandatory
evacuation order could be lifted
soon, said forestry department
information officer Mitch
Villalpando.
In Santa Barbara County, the
1,042-acre Cachuma Fire in the
Los Padres National Forest was
10 percent contained. In San
Diego County, the 2,050-acre
India Fire on the Camp
Pendleton Marine base was
fully contained early
Wednesday. No structures were
damaged.
In Washington, D.C., mean
while, the Agriculture
Department agreed to give
$120 million for dead tree
removal in the three Southern
California counties hit hardest
by devastating wildfires in the
region last fall.
Congress had designated that
the money go to San Diego, San
Bernardino and Riverside coun
ties, but a requirement that the
counties match 25 percent of the
money with local funds had kept
them from receiving it. Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,
announced Wednesday that the
requirement had been lifted, and
that a matching-fund require
ment on another $48 million for
fuel-reduction projects had been
reduced from 50 percent to 25
percent.
Google Inc. stock auction: Setting
up an IPO revolution or disaster?
By Michael Liedtke
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO —
Google Inc.’s initial public
offering has a lot of people sali
vating for a piece of the action.
While an egalitarian auction
may sound like a refreshing
chnge after years of shady bro
kerage dealings, the approach
could backfire if Google can’t
meet the intense demand or the
bidding pushes the IPO price so
high that the shares are perched
to topple once they begin trading.
Most IPO and technology
observers are applauding Google
for being bold enough to chal
lenge the status quo with an
unorthodox system that could
empower individual investors.
“Google has managed to
crack the code for searching
online, so maybe they can crack
the code for getting the individual
investor more involved in the IPO
market,” said Kathleen Smith, an
analyst for Renaissance Capital
in Greenwich, Conn.
The hype surrounding
Google’s IPO, coupled with the
mass appeal the company has
built through its popular search
engine, is piquing the interest
of people who don’t normally
buy stocks.
“I’m no expert, but this is
something 1 would definitely
consider,” said Brian Gottlock, a
29-year-old New York lawyer
who hasn’t bought stock since
he invested in Marvel Comics as
ateenager. “This just seems like
a really democratic idea. It feels
less impersonal than when most
other companies go public.”
Google’s IPO isn’t about
altruism. The company wants to
raise at least $2.7 billion.
By using a public auction.
Google stands a better chance of
getting the highest price possi
ble for its stock by appealing to
the millions of people who use
its search engine.
To participate in the auction,
prospective bidders must open
an account with one of Google’s
IPO bankers, Morgan Stanley or
Credit Suisse First Boston.
Before the auction starts
Google will set an estimated
price range for the IPO shares.
The range is supposed to serve
as a guide for investors, but the
auction participants are free to
submit higher or lower bids. The
auction will be held through
phone, fax and the Internet.
Google says it wants the
auction to determine the price
of its initial shares. Some will
be distributed by Morgan
Stanley and CSFB, but the
majority are supposed to go to
members of the public who bid
at or above the price.
One of the biggest downsides
to this system is a potential out
break of buyer’s remorse.
Because the auction is set up
to determine the price most peo
ple are willing to pay for the
stock, that theoretically means
few people would buy the
shares at a higher price in the
first few days or weeks after
they begin trading.
The scenario could cause IPO
bidders to worry they overpaid
for Google’s stock and prompt a
wave of selling that drives down
the price, a phenomenon known
as “the winner’s curse.”
Google repeatedly advises
potential investors about the
curse in its prospectus. It also
says that if the IPO flops, its
business could suffer a black eye.
“Our brand could be tar
nished, and users and investors
could become frustrated with us,
potentially decreasing their use of
our products and services,” the
company warns in the prospectus.
I'm not
planning on
getting in on
(Google's IPO) be
cause I don't tmst
Wall Street
— Farshad Foroudi
West New York, NJ
Among the handful of com
panies that have offered stock
through the auction system,
none has had Google’s pedigree.
Besides its wide recognition,
Google is highly profitable —
earning $ 106 million on revenue
of $982 million last year.
An IPO auction “is some
thing Wall Street hates to see,
but no one can afford to walk
away from Google,” said Patrick
Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com
Inc., which used an auction in its
2002 IPO. “This could be the
thing that breaks a sleazy Wall
Street system.”
Overstock’s IPO auction
rewarded its participants,
although it took some time. The
company’s shares rose just 45
cents during their first year of
trading, but the stock recently
has hovereci around $39 —
tripling its IPO price of $13.
Other IPO auctions haven’t
worked so well. Online publisher
Salon Media Group Inc. went
public at $10.50 per share in
1999. The perennially unprof
itable company’s shares crept as
high as $15.15 during their first
year on the market, but recently
have traded for less than 15 cents.
An immediate price decline
in a hot IPO like Google’s
would be a dramatic reversal
from the frothy days of the
1990s dot-com boom.
Back then, investment
bankers treated IPOs as a prize
worthy of a favored few.
The IPOs of that manic era
almost uniformly rocketed when
the shares began trading, open
ing a window for the privileged
investors to sell their stock at a
quick and healthy profit.
The pattern raised suspicions
that investment bankers purpose
fully underpriced IPOs to assure
the initial investors would enjoy
hefty gains. Securities regulators
also uncovered evidence that IPO
investors paid kickbacks to the
investment banks, resulting in a
series of fines and settlements.
The scent of scandal contin
ues to hang over the IPO market,
despite Google’s attempt to
introduce some fresh air.
“I’m not planning on getting
in on (Google’s IPO) because I
don’t trust Wall Street,” said
Farshad Foroudi, 27, of West
New York, N.J. “I’m not sure
how it will all work out, but I am
pretty confident Wall Street will
find a way to work it to its
advantage.”
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