Google is seeking more freedom in investing its $14.4 billion stash.
The company is seeking a waiver from U.S. securities regulations that would put it under the same disclosure and regulatory requirements as mutual funds if it puts its money into investments beyond plain vanilla U.S. bonds and notes, municipal securities and time deposits.
The application was first disclosed by the Associated Press, which got a copy of Google’s paper filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC already grants the exemption to Google rivals Microsoft and Yahoo. As part of their regulatory and disclosure requirements, mutual funds are required to value their portfolios and price their securities daily.
Though parts of the filing were withheld as proprietary, UBS Securities analyst Benjamin Schachter noted that Mountain View, California-based Google revealed that it had one million advertisers at the end of 2007, up from 89,000 four years previously.
Google also said it “expects to acquire companies at a rate consistent with spending” in 2007 and 2008, according to a research note by Mr. Schachter.
In afternoon trading Thursday afternoon, Google shares shed $1.56, or .5 percent, to $320.45.