The billion dollar question is exactly how the auction will work. They've been quite quiet on the exact specifics of how the auction will work. I generally agree that hype from clueless investors will push the auction price far above reality, after which there will be an unpleasant correction. I fully expect Google to settle in with some insane P/E ratio and to be extremely turbulent with respect to the rest of the market. I'm undecided on whether it would be a good long-term investment, not because the company may have problems, but because the stock price may be significantly divorced from the company's actual profits.